Epiphany
by EphemeralOne
Summary: Epiphany: An illuminating discovery or startling revelation. An alternate retelling of the Strawberry Panic story set after the summer exams, focusing on the characters' relationships and their struggles with their own personal demons.
1. Chapter I

**Disclaimer: **I do not own _Strawberry Panic!_, or make claim to owning it. I am merely borrowing the characters to flex my dusty literary muscles. If you like it, or even if you don't, leave me a review to tell me why. Constructive criticism is my best friend so please if you have anything to offer, drop me a line. If it isn't already apparent, this story takes place after the summer exam period, and will be an alternate retelling of the story from this point onward. While this story is mainly about Nagisa's relationships with the people around her, other characters and their relationships will be explored. There are very few characters in the _Strawberry Panic!_ universe that will not be developed further in my story. Please read and review.

**EPIPHANY - Chapter I **

------------------------------  
_So I speak to you in riddles,  
'Cause my words get in my way.  
I smoke the whole thing to my head,  
And feel it wash away._  
------------------------------

The sounds of relieved sighs and excited mutterings rang out through the halls at Saint Miator's Academy; signalling the end of exams, and the official start of the summer holidays. Chairs scraped noisily along the stone floors and fabric rustled as students got out of their seats and headed to the nearest exit. A teacher's call for silence went unheard as girls chattered enthusiastically about the upcoming break, and their action-filled plans for their days off.

In the hallways outside, a young blue-haired girl searched frantically for her roommate amongst the sea of students now gathering lazily outside their respective classrooms. As she made her way through the crush of humanity, she smiled politely and quickly excused herself from classmates who started to strike up conversation.

Ordinarily she would have been more than happy to stay and unwind with her friends, but her top priority now was tracking down her best friend to find out how she did on the rest of her exams.

For the past week, Tamao had watched as her auburn-haired roommate drove herself steadily to exhaustion as she prepared for the fourth year exams; watched as she suffered first through a torturous nine-day revision-fest on French, and then a further two-night stint revising for her remaining — albeit stronger — subjects. Tamao couldn't help but marvel at the strength of her best friend's will — even though Nagisa had been getting very little sleep over the ten-day period, she had clearly lost none of the infectious exuberance that Tamao admired so greatly in her roommate.

A flash of red caught her eye, and a second later Nagisa appeared out of the crowd, rushing forward to hug Tamao with a huge smile on her face.

"Tamao-chan! We did it. All our exams are over… Thank God!" she sighed dramatically, releasing her friend's shoulders and stepping back. "All I want to do now is go back to our room, take a bath and sleep for three days!" she moaned.

Tamao chuckled. "I think you deserve it after all the effort you've put into these exams, Nagisa-chan," she said happily, latching onto the shorter girl's arm. "I have Literature Club activities at the moment, but when you get back we can celebrate properly."

Nagisa grinned and hooked her arm around her friend's, leading her towards the now empty classroom that served as headquarters for the Literature club.

"Sure. What do you have planned? Anything special?"

Tamao smiled lightly and pulled her arm out of Nagisa's. She turned the girl around, placing her hands lightly on her shoulders and stared down into her shorter friend's eyes.

"Tamao-chan?"

Tamao glanced around before lowering herself closer to Nagisa's ear.

"Well, I was thinking that we could hold another tea party in our room tonight," she whispered, then paused slightly before adding, "Unless you wanted to share that bath of yours."

Nagisa stood stock-still and flushed prettily as Tamao drew back, smiling gently. As the heat finally left her cheek, Nagisa scowled at her supposed best friend.

"Tamao-chan—" Nagisa whined

"Yes?"

"I thought I told you to quit that."

"Quit what, exactly?" Tamao asked innocently.

Nagisa frowned and smacked Tamao lightly on the arm.

"Teasing me! I don't think I've gotten through one day without you making fun of me in some way, shape or form," she murmured miserably, pouting and turning her back on her friend.

Tamao chuckled and grasped one of Nagisa's free hands, tugging the girl back around to face her.

"I only do it because you flush so adorably when you're embarrassed."

Nagisa felt a surge of heat travelling up her neck, and clenched her free hand; fighting desperately against the rush of blood that signalled the beginnings of a magnificent blush. The last thing she wanted was to give Tamao the satisfaction of seeing her react again so soon.

"Why are you my best friend again?" she asked sourly.

Tamao smiled gently and dropped Nagisa's hand, walking to the club's doorway before turning back to face her friend.

"I take it that you're choosing the tea party option then?" Tamao asked with an easy smile.

Unable to stay mad at her best friend for long, Nagisa smiled.

"Obviously! I'll see you back home then," she said, waving over her shoulder as she headed towards the stairwell.

Had Nagisa glanced over her shoulder at that moment, she would have seen a disappointed smile cross Tamao's face as she watched her friend walk away from her.

------------------------------

Despite the occasional teasing remark and multiple invasions of her personal space, Tamao was undisputedly her best friend. The past week had been a testament to that.

From her passionate declaration that she would not go to Summer School without her, to staying up until the wee hours of the morning to keep her company; Tamao had never once complained, but had instead provided her with enough gentle encouragement to keep Nagisa motivated — even through the most trying of times. Without Tamao, Nagisa was sure she would have given up on French — and the rest of her exams — many days ago.

Nagisa smiled to herself as she pushed open the doors to Miator's main hall and stepped out into the sunlight. Really she ought to get something for Tamao to thank her for everything.

She knew just the thing too…

The last time they had visited the nearby city; Tamao had made her wait for forty-five minutes as she scoured a back-alley bookshop for some crusty old book. Nagisa wasn't quite sure what it was, but from Tamao's brief explanation she gathered it was some very old story told in poetic verse.

It wasn't until Tamao had begun to recite some of it from memory, that Nagisa had come to understand her roommate's desire to obtain a copy for herself. It was really very beautiful.

Nagisa grinned as she imagined the look on her friend's face upon receiving the long sought-after manuscript; it was really the only way she could think of to thank the girl adequately for all her help. And even though Tamao would probably profess that she had done nothing to deserve such a gift, in that endearingly modest way of hers, Nagisa thought it would be nice to treat the girl who had made her transition into Miator and the Strawberry Dorms so pleasurable. So far she had managed embarrass herself nearly every day, but despite that, Tamao had stuck by her – providing invaluable moral and emotional support whenever she did something stupid.

Like she had during her first dinner at the Strawberry Dorms.

Nagisa cringed as she recalled the horrific events of that night. Not only had she had arrived late, but she had also nearly walked into the back of Miator's student council president, greeted a person who she thought was Etoile-sama, collapsed—

Nagisa stopped in her tracks. Etoile-sama. She'd completely forgotten about her.

In reality the stately Etoile had been _the _reason Nagisa hadn't started sobbing wretchedly as soon as she read the first question in the French exam. Shizuma-sama was the motivation that had driven her to excel where nothing else would.

Of course, there was always the threat of not being able to go to Summer School, but that seemed to pale in comparison to disappointing the silver-haired girl. _I wonder when that changed?_ Summer School had been her dream for many weeks, and yet now she was more worried about disappointing one person. No, not just any person, Etoile-sama — the pride and joy of Astrea Hill.

Strangely enough to Nagisa, it seemed as though Etoile-sama had developed a bit of a fascination with her. Or she had in the past. For whatever reason, since the welcoming party for the first-years, Shizuma-sama had stopped trying to seduce her every time they met.

Nagisa wasn't quite sure how she should feel about that; on one hand it was relieving to know that Shizuma-sama was no longer trying to seduce her, but on the other it _had _been rather flattering to know the attractive and much-desired girl was interested in her.

Still, their experiences _had _paved the way for Nagisa to get to know the much-admired Etoile better. They were even at the point where she would consider the silver-haired girl… _what? A friend? _Nagisa's grip tightened on her schoolbag. Is that what they were? Then why did being around Shizuma-sama feel so much different from when she was around her other friends?

After a moment to reflect on her thoughts, Nagisa frowned, ducked her head and reached up with her free hand to scrub at her eyes. _Maybe I'm more tired than I thought; this isn't helping me think of what to get her… _

Thinking of what to buy Tamao-chan had been relatively easy, but getting something appropriate for the graceful figurehead of the three schools could prove rather more difficult.

Nagisa frowned and resumed walking again, taking the scenic route past the lake. Maybe a change of scenery would help kick her brain into action. At least, that's what Tamao-chan always did when she got stuck with her writing; maybe it would kick her creative muse into gear. Either way, it was better than standing in the middle of a dusty pathway staring blankly at her shoes. And even if no ideas came to her, it was a nice way to quietly unwind after a hectic and stressful week.

It didn't take long to reach the lake foreshore, and Nagisa let out a pleased laugh as she caught a glimpse of its shimmering surface.

The sun was going down, and the rays of light made it appear as though the lake's surface was liquid metal rather than water; a writhing golden mass that looked almost solid enough to walk on. It was truly a wonder of nature, and Nagisa couldn't help but be taken in by its beauty.

As she cleared the last row of trees, she realised that someone else had _also_ decided the lake would be a good spot for some personal reflection; as sitting near the base of Nagisa's favourite tree was the silhouetted form of another girl.

She let out a mildly irritated sigh. She didn't want to disturb the other girl but she really needed somewhere quiet to think. It didn't really matter, as there were plenty of beautiful places around Astrea Hill where she could be alone. It was just unfortunate that she couldn't stay and marvel at the lake's magnificent beauty.

She had just turned to walk away when an inquisitive voice stopped her in her tracks.

"Nagisa-san?"

Nagisa turned around and squinted in the direction of the voice. She was fairly certain that she recognised it, but maybe it was better just to make sure before replying. So, taking a few tentative steps, Nagisa made her way slowly towards the person by the tree. Recognition dawned as she got closer to the individual in question; the white uniform, deadly-straight waist-length black hair and busty figure were a dead giveaway. A genuine smile crossed her face as she came to stand just in front of the younger girl.

"Yaya-chan! I didn't expect to meet you out here," she said happily. "Would you mind if I joined you, or am I interrupting something?" she asked, indicating the open notepad and pen lying on Yaya's lap.

Following Nagisa's line of sight, Yaya swiftly flipped the book closed, and laid both pen and notebook on the grass next to her. Smiling back, she patted the ground.

"Not at all. Just killing time. Besides, it seems like forever since we last talked."

Nagisa sighed dramatically and sat herself rather ungracefully next to the black-haired girl, hugging her schoolbag to her chest.

"Doesn't it just? It's all because of stupid French!" she exclaimed loudly. Noticing Yaya's raised eyebrow, she added, "I had to cram three years' worth of French into a week to pass exams."

"Ahhhh. So _that's _why Hikari and I haven't seen either you or Tamao-san this week. We were beginning to think that you didn't like us anymore," she said jokingly. "So… are you finished with exams yet, or do you still have a few left?"

Nagisa shook her head. "No, we had our last one today. You?"

Yaya grinned. "Finished a few days ago." Ignoring Nagisa's jealous glare, she abruptly changed topic. "So what brings you out here anyway? I would've thought you'd already be back in your room either stuffing your face with cake or passed out, drooling on your bed."

Nagisa shot her an indignant glare. "Hey! I do have _some _self-restraint you know. I actually came out here to think of what to get Etoile-sama as a thank-you present."

Yaya raised a slender eyebrow. "A thank-you present?"

"Mmm, Shizuma-sama tutored me every night before the French exam." Catching sight of Yaya's amused expression, Nagisa frowned. "What?"

"_Tutored?_ Is that supposed to be a euphemism?" she said with a wry smirk.

Nagisa stared back blankly. "A euphemism? What do you—" She stopped mid-sentence and blanched as she caught Yaya's implication. Not long after, a wave of heat shot up her neck and settled somewhere below her eyes.

Yaya snickered. "Should I take that magnificent blush as a 'yes'?"

Nagisa brought her schoolbag up to shield her glowing face. "It's not like that Yaya-chan! I mean she's a girl! And I'm not…and I don't…" she spluttered.

An amused Yaya cut her off mid-tirade with a raised hand.

"Okay, okay. Calm down! I was only joking."

Nagisa lowered her bag and clutched it to her chest, waiting for the blood to leave her cheeks. She scowled somewhat menacingly at a beetle crawling across the ground in front of her.

"It wasn't very funny, Yaya-chan," she mumbled sourly.

Yaya just grinned in response. "Well, knowing Etoile-sama's track record, one can't be too sure of these things," she said lightly.

Nagisa just stared at the beetle – brooding in silence. Yaya grinned to herself and ripped the schoolbag away from Nagisa, slinging her free arm over her friend's slim shoulders.

"Awww c'mon Nagisa-san, don't be mad. If you talk to me again I won't tease you anymore."

Nagisa glanced up at her from the corner of her eyes. "You promise?"

Yaya dropped Nagisa's bag on her lap and held up her little finger. "I'll even pinky swear it."

Nagisa shot her a scrutinising look before smiling heartily and linking their little fingers together.

Yaya masked her features, and in a completely straight-laced voice said, "I hereby promise to not tease Nagisa-san about the fact that Etoile-sama was giving her _private lessons_."

Nagisa growled and Yaya bit back a laugh.

"What?" she asked innocently.

"I heard that!"

"What!?"

"Making 'private lessons' sound so suggestive!"

"I did no such thing!"

Nagisa huffed in irritation, and Yaya recanted. "Okay. I'm sorry, but you're just so much fun to tease Nagisa-san!" she said, squeezing the redhead's shoulder.

Nagisa pouted. "So I've heard…" she muttered, thinking slightly bitterly of her best friend. "So… got any bright ideas?"

"For?" Yaya inquired.

"Etoile-sama's present!"

"Oh, right… that." Yaya grinned. "Well, I'm not sure. But I can't say that I know her well enough to give you any good ideas…" she trailed off.

Nagisa's face fell in disappointment. "You're right, sorry. Guess I'll just have to think on it a little longer, eh?"

Yaya tightened her grip on Nagisa's shoulder and shook the shorter girl slightly.

"Hey… You're not doing anything tomorrow right?" Nagisa nodded. "Well, I was looking to go into the city tomorrow to order something, but I don't have an upperclassman to accompany me…" A light switched on in Nagisa's head and she turned to face Yaya, a smile spreading slowly across her face. "…so do you want to provide me with a _suitable escort_ and in turn I'll give you some shopping company?"

Nagisa's grin spread. "Sounds great, Yaya-chan! Thank you!" she cried, turning in Yaya's grasp to loop both arms around the younger girl's neck.

The hug turned out to be a more difficult task than she had first envisaged as Yaya's considerable bust was now pressed awkwardly into her lower ribs and stomach. To ease the pressure, Nagisa sucked in her stomach and curved her spine, hoping she'd made her captive a little more comfortable.

_Poor Yaya-chan. I wonder if she has to play human Tetris every time she wants to hug someone…_she wondered idly. _Then if Yaya-chan has it bad I wonder how Shizuma-sa—_

"Why am I _not_ surprised to find you in the arms of another girl, Yaya-senpai?" an irritated voice exclaimed, breaking Nagisa out of her thoughts.

Yaya grimaced and Nagisa loosened her hold on the younger girl's neck, peering over her shoulder. Standing not three metres away was Tsubomi, looking particularly displeased at her upperclassman.

"Tsubomi-chan!?!"

"Hunh?" said the first-year, taking a momentary break from boring holes in the back of Yaya's still-turned head to glance at Nagisa. "Nagisa-sama!? Er… sorry, I didn't know it was _you _with Yaya-senpai."

To that, Yaya turned her head and frowned at the pink-haired girl.

"Why did _I_ get abuse when _Nagisa-san_ got a 'sorry'?"

Tsubomi frowned heavily and thrust a bundle of sheets in Yaya's direction.

"Because _Nagisa-sama _didn't ditch choir practice," she said angrily. "And _Nagisa-sama _didn't make me walk for ages trying to find her so I could give her next week's music."

Yaya rolled her eyes and Nagisa had to fight the urge to laugh.

"Well why didn't you just give them to Hikari to give to me later then?" she asked in an irritated voice, handing Nagisa's schoolbag back to her and standing up. She closed the distance between them and took the pages from the first-year's hand.

"Because Hikari-senpai had already left before I could, and it was easier just to come and look for you myself," she exclaimed with an edge to her voice. "Besides — and no offence to Hikari-senpai — but she's almost as forgetful as you are."

Yaya raised an amused eyebrow.

"What's this? Tsubomi-chan finding fault in her beloved senpai? What has become of the world?" she muttered sarcastically, turning her head to rifle through the various sheets of music. "And exactly _how_ is trekking all around Astrea Hill to find me, easy?"

Tsubomi glared at her for a few short seconds, a faint tinge of pink slowly decorating the tips of her ears. "It's not," she grumbled finally. "But if Yaya-senpai shows up under-prepared _again,_ the rest of the choir has to wait for her to be caught up."

Yaya's raised her head from the papers and met Tsubomi's gaze squarely before rolling her eyes and stuffing the sheets of music into her dress-pocket. Forcibly ignoring her underclassman, Yaya collected her possessions from the ground and offered Nagisa a hand up.

"Well, it looks like it's just about time to head back, eh Nagisa-san? Seems our _mood_ has been soured," she finished wickedly, glancing over at a still stewing Tsubomi. "Oi, you coming? Or are you content to stand there gnashing your teeth for the rest of the night?"

Nagisa stifled a laugh as she made her way back to the Strawberry Dorms with arguing friends in tow.

------------------------------

Nagisa let out a weary sigh as the door to their bedroom closed, signalling the last of their guests leaving for the night. She walked over to her bed and sat down heavily on the edge, letting her upper body flop back onto the smooth mattress.

While she appreciated Tamao going to the effort of celebrating with all their friends, Nagisa would have liked nothing more than to sink into her big, comfy bed; curl up under the light comforter and drift off into heavenly obliviousness. Still… it had been rather nice having everyone together again and being able to unwind with people she liked after the torturous exam period.

"You jump in bed, Nagisa-chan. I'll clean everything up," Tamao said, startling Nagisa out of her reverie.

Nagisa pushed herself back up into sitting position.

"Wha? No, Tamao-chan—" she protested, before being interrupted by Tamao's light shake of the head.

"No buts about it. You're going to hop in bed and get a good night's sleep. I won't have you collapsing tomorrow because I organised a tea party and made you stay up," Tamao said. She sat at her friend's feet and rested her hands lightly on Nagisa's bare knees. "And don't worry about sleeping in tomorrow. I'll wake you up before you miss breakfast."

Nagisa smiled wearily back and laid her hands over Tamao's, brushing the pads of her thumbs lightly over them.

"Thank you, Tamao-chan, you're the world's greatest friend."

Something indescribable flashed through Tamao's eyes, before she averted them quickly.

"Don't mention it," she said quietly.

Nagisa frowned and squeezed Tamao's fingers, causing the other girl to turn back to face her.

"You okay, Tamao-chan?"

Tamao nodded and gave Nagisa a small smile that didn't quite reach her eyes.

"Yeah… I just had this wave of fatigue crash down on me… Sometimes you don't realise how tired you are until you stop," she laughed as she slowly stood up. "In any case, you should get some sleep," she said, her back turned to Nagisa. "I can't have my Nagisa-chan getting sick before Summer School now can I?" she finished, with a trace of her old enthusiasm.

Nagisa continued to stare worriedly at Tamao's back, watching as she busied herself with putting the tea set away.

Maybe she _was _just tired. Tamao had stayed up with her during most of her all-nighters, and she _had _sounded more like her normal self near the end. Maybe she was just thinking too hard.

Nagisa sighed and stood up, stripping off her light summer robe and climbing into bed. _Oh, it's just as glorious as I thought it would be_, she sighed, relishing the feel of the cool sheets against her exposed arms and legs. She would probably get too hot in a few minutes' time, but there was nothing quite like cocooning yourself in bed after a stressful day. She yawned heavily and curled a fistful of sheets tighter around her shoulders, barely hearing her roommate's soft 'Goodnight' before succumbing to the seductive embrace of sleep.


	2. Chapter II

**Disclaimer: **I still do not own _Strawberry Panic!_, or make claim to owning it. Before I go on I must mention that in the first chapter I had anonymous reviews turned off. That was purely by mistake, and has since been changed. So to those of you — if there is anyone — who tried to review but couldn't, and would still like to, please know that you now can. Enjoy, and please remember to read and review. Feedback is my lifeblood.

**EPIPHANY – Chapter II**

------------------------------  
_Sometimes I'm a selfish fake,  
But you're always a true friend.  
And I don't deserve you,  
'Cause I'm not there for you,  
Please forgive me again._  
------------------------------

The greenhouse was stuffy — unsurprising, really, considering it was summer.

The damp air formed a blanket around her skin, mingling with the beads of sweat collecting on the back of her neck. Nagisa held back a shudder of revulsion as a one finally broke free of its tenuous bonds and slipped beneath her shirt collar. _This is disgusting_, she thought, tugging at her uniform's collar in frustration. _Surely someone must have pointed out that heat and lots of clothes don't mix very well._

She sat for a few more minutes in discomfort before reaching up to undo the collar and the top two buttons on her shirt. _This is silly. I'm not going to sit here all hot and sweaty just for the sake of decorum! It's hot and muggy, and here I am worried that I'm not wearing my uniform correctly! I'll just do it up again once Shizuma-sama gets here._

She finished with the last of the buttons and started fanning herself with a free hand, letting out a relieved sigh when the moving air reached her skin.

The only good thing about the heat was that the discomfort gave her something to focus on. But now, with her over-heating problem partially relieved, Nagisa was reminded of the reason she was here in the first place. Her gaze danced lightly over the wrapped package on the table in front of her, and she was hit by a wave of apprehension. _What am I going to say? _she thought, unable to tear her eyes away from the small parcel.

"I don't think that they had comfort in mind when they designed these uniforms, did they?" came a soft voice just off to her left.

Nagisa jerked her head up in surprise, finding Shizuma-sama standing a few metres in front of her, looking rather amused. She swept her eyes over the taller girl, taking in her appearance in stunned silence.

Shizuma's arms were crossed lightly across her stomach; the fingers of her left hand splaying delicately over the crook of her right elbow, while the fingers on her right curved lightly around the opposite hip; in a sort of self-embrace. On any other person, Nagisa may have thought it a sign of vulnerability — a non-verbal cue to make oneself unapproachable, untouchable. But then, this was not just 'any other person'…

Realising she had been staring for longer than was generally considered polite, Nagisa burst to her feet, feeling about as graceful as a mountain gorilla in the older girl's presence.

"Etoile-sama!"

Shizuma smiled, locking eyes with Nagisa briefly before sweeping them down her neck and settling her gaze around chest-level.

Heat rose to Nagisa's cheeks when she realised exactly where Shizuma's attention was focused, and she fought the urge to turn away from such personal scrutiny. Her discomfort, however, was short-lived, as a few awkward seconds later Shizuma's eyes travelled back to hers and remained there.

"New fashion statement?"

Nagisa blinked. "Hunh?"

Shizuma's eyes moved southwards again, and this time Nagisa followed them, finally taking note of her unbuttoned top. She let out a surprised yelp and fumbled with the edges of her shirt, trying to do up buttons with fingers that suddenly resembled sausages.

"Ahhh I-I'm sorry, I just got a little hot and—"

Shizuma took a few steps closer, uncrossed her arms and let one rest lightly on the edge of the table.

"It's alright. I didn't say it to make you feel awkward," she said, the corners of her mouth curling up slightly. "I'm glad you came."

The sincerity in the older girl's voice startled her, and — almost on reflex — Nagisa felt her mouth curving upwards, returning the warm smile.

She still sometimes had trouble believing that Shizuma-sama was interested in knowing her, but the more time she spent in the Etoile's presence, the more she started to believe that it really was possible. _Even if I am clumsy, completely unremarkable and…_Her gaze swept to the wrapped gift on the table. …_and… _The smile dropped from her face.

Shizuma seemed to notice her distress and frowned. "What's wrong?"

Nagisa glanced once again at the present still sitting on the table, and Shizuma's eyes followed her line of sight.

"Is that for me?" she asked.

Nagisa shifted uncomfortably in front of her seat, unable to meet Shizuma's eyes, before nodding.

"I bought it to thank you for everything you did for me before the French exam, but…"

"Are you worried that I won't like it?" Shizuma asked. "Because I'm sure it'll be—"

"No!" Nagisa cried, looking a startled Shizuma in the eyes. Then a little softer, "No… it's not that. It's just… I..." She took a deep breath. "I-I failed the French exam."

Shizuma's eyebrows rose and she stared at Nagisa in surprise. Whatever she had expected the younger girl to say; that hadn't been it.

Mistaking Shizuma's silence for disappointment, Nagisa dropped her head in shame.

"I'm sorry. Even after all your help I still failed." She took a deep breath to steady her voice. "I wasted your time for nothing, and I let you down. I'm sorry… I won't bother you again." Nagisa ducked her head and made to race off out of the door.

"Wait!"

She turned in surprise. When she glanced back, she found Shizuma smiling gently at her.

"Shizuma-sama?"

"Did you really think I wouldn't want to see you again just because you didn't pass an exam?" she asked.

Nagisa opened her mouth to answer, but quickly shut it again, not wanting to inadvertently insult the older girl.

Shizuma closed the distance between them, resting her hands on Nagisa's shoulders.

"I meant what I said before: I'm still amazed by how well you did to catch up," she said, pride clearly evident in her voice. "And you never know, maybe something good will come of all this."

A wave of heat seemed to wash over her, and Nagisa silently cursed the greenhouse and her increasingly uncomfortable uniform.

"Something good?" she queried.

Shizuma smiled and trailed one hand down Nagisa's arm, only breaking contact to wrap it around her waist. Nagisa stifled a cry of surprise and looked at Shizuma in confusion.

The older girl met her gaze and smiled.

"Mmm. Something good," she whispered, ducking her head next to Nagisa's ear.

Nagisa flinched and brought both arms up to push at Shizuma's shoulders. She instantly regretted the action when the silver-haired girl tightened the arm around her waist, pulling her flush up against her body.

She tried to swallow, but found her mouth devoid of moisture.

"Shizuma-sama? What are you—"

Her question died in her throat when she felt Shizuma's free hand begin to tug at her shirt-collar, undoing the first two buttons with terrifying ease. _No! _her mind screamed; protesting violently at this sudden turn of events. What was going on? Why was Shizuma so… aggressive, all of a sudden? _I thought we'd gone past that! I thought we'd wiped the slate clean._

Nagisa took a steadying breath, and caught Shizuma's hand with one of her own; stilling it on her now partially-unbuttoned shirtfront.

"Shizuma-sama… W-What are you doing!?"

Shizuma levelled her head with Nagisa's, looking her squarely in the eyes.

"I thought that was obvious: we're starting your lessons," she said with the same heart-stopping smirk.

Nagisa's hand trembled, and she fought to keep her hold on Shizuma's own as a wave of heat washed over her. It was strange really; she about to pass out from the heat, yet Shizuma-sama seemed to be completely unaffected by it.

She was also apparently unfazed by the film of sweat covering Nagisa's neck as she brushed a finger lightly over her now exposed collarbone.

Nagisa sucked in a quick breath.

"What lessons?" she rasped, loosening her grip on Shizuma's hand.

The silver-haired girl gently tugged her hand free, and pushed open the neck of Nagisa's shirt, leaning her head down so that Nagisa could feel her breath dancing over her skin.

"Your private lessons, Nagisa."

Nagisa stifled a cry, both at the sensations assailing her and because Shizuma had failed to attach an honorific to her name. Whether she should feel pleased or offended by the omission was still rather debatable, as rational thought seemed to be failing her.

_But wait…_ _where have I heard that before?_

Shizuma's hair danced across her neck, and she arched it involuntarily, watching through half-lidded eyes as the taller girl lowered her lips to her neck.

"_Your private lessons…"_

Her skin was burning; dancing with a dull electricity that seemed to excite every nerve ending and make every hair stand on end. Shizuma was so close now she could feel the other girl's body heat mingling with her own, doing nothing to ease the inferno that was slowly ravaging her body. She closed her eyes and gasped as she felt soft lips descend on her neck.

"… _promise to not tease Nagisa-san about the fact that Etoile-sama was giving her private lessons…"_ Yaya's voice echoed in her mind.

Her eyes snapped open.

------------------------------

Tamao sighed and glanced at her clock, holding back a distressed groan when she saw the time.

It was 2.40am and she couldn't sleep.

This was nothing new of course; for as long as she could remember she had always had trouble falling asleep.

When she was younger she had initially thought there had been something wrong with her, as she had always been the last one to fall asleep at sleepovers. Sometimes she would lie there for hours in silence listening to the others' gentle breathing, wondering why she wasn't able to be more like them. They were all so unlike her; they just put their heads on their pillows and fell asleep — as easy as that. They didn't toss or turn for hours, didn't have to let out irritated sighs as sleep eluded them once again. They just shut their eyes and drifted off easily. It was unfair.

Tamao rolled on her side and her eyes were drawn to her roommate's silhouette. Nagisa was like that. She was one of those horrible people that just dropped as soon as their heads hit the pillow. She smiled as that thought crossed her mind. Horrible? That must be the jealousy talking. There was no way she could hate anything about her bubbly roommate.

That was the problem…

Nagisa made a small sound halfway between a murmur and sigh and flung an arm over the side of the bed, her wrist flexing with the weight of gravity. _She must be having another dream_, Tamao mused, watching as the wrist gave a small twitch. She smiled in spite of herself; her roommate seemed to have a knack for unintentionally doing indescribably cute things. _Or maybe they're just cute to me_, she thought ruefully.

Nagisa let out another strangled sound and rolled onto her other side, successfully tangling herself up in her sheets further. All Tamao could see now through the inky darkness was that same slim arm, and a mop of what she assumed to be Nagisa's hair. The rest of her was — rather messily — cocooned in her bed sheets. _She must be sweltering. _

Tamao herself was dressed only in a short-sleeved nightgown but she was still finding it rather difficult to get comfortable. Either she was under the sheets and boiling, or on top of the sheets and slightly too cool. She had finally compromised by leaving one arm and one leg out of the sheets, which seemed to have solved her problem... for the meantime anyway.

Not finding herself any closer to sleep, Tamao rolled over and reached above her head, scrabbling for the book she knew was on her desk. After all, it didn't look like sleep was going to come to her anytime soon, so she may as well be doing something enjoyable in these twilight hours.

Her hand finally brushed the worn cover of her most recent novel, and she dragged it toward her, dropping it on the bed as she reached up to find her book light. After searching for what seemed like an eternity, Tamao frowned and sat up, squinting in the dark as she tried to locate the elusive item. Finally spying it poking out from a stack of loose papers, she grabbed it and switched it on; making sure the small globe wasn't pointed towards her sleeping roommate.

Nagisa murmured once more, and Tamao glanced over at her, thinking she had woken the girl up with her light. Somehow, in the course of her flailings, Nagisa had managed not only to knock both pillows from her bed, but had ended up lying almost horizontally across the width of it.

It was strange really, Nagisa was usually a very quiet sleeper, she had never been this... violent in her sleep before.

Tamao glanced at her roommate's face in concern. _Is she having a nightmare? Is that why she's so restless?_ She put the book face-down on her bed and pulled off her sheets, waging an internal war. _Should I wake her up, or should I just leave her to sleep? She might not even be having a nightmare. And if she's not, I'm sure she wouldn't appreciate being woken at three o' clock by her insane insomniac of a roommate._

She didn't have to agonise on it too long, as Nagisa soon let out a pitiful cry and jerked herself awake, overbalancing and crashing to the floor in a messy pile of legs, arms and sheets.

Thankfully her pillows had landed beside her bed, absorbing most of the impact from her fall. Still, Tamao heard the telltale meaty smack of flesh hitting a hard surface and winced in sympathy for her friend.

"Nagisa-chan! Are you okay?" she cried, rushing over to kneel at her side.

In response Nagisa let out a pained moan and held the back of her head.

"Not particularly," she grumbled, rubbing her newly-developed lump gingerly.

Tamao let out a relieved sigh as she heard her friend's response. Considering she had landed on her head, Nagisa appeared to be relatively unharmed.

"Are you sure? Did you hurt anything else when you fell?" she asked quickly, her eyes raking the girl for any sign of damage. She couldn't find anything obvious, but as her eyes swept up Nagisa's torso she noticed something else odd. "Nagisa-chan… is that sweat?"

"Wha?" Nagisa groaned as she pushed herself up into a sitting position.

Tamao took the material of Nagisa's short-sleeved shirt in her fingers and rubbed. The material was almost sodden.

"Your pyjamas… They're soaked with sweat!"

"Huh?" Nagisa dropped her hand from her head and plucked at the sodden material. "Oh, eww," she rasped then grabbed her neck with a grimace.

Tamao felt a wave of fear wash through her: _Fitful sleep, sweating profusely, sore throat_… She laid her hand on Nagisa's forehead, ignoring her startled jump. _Fever, and…_Tamao quickly dropped her hand from Nagisa's face and moved it to her wrist, placing the tips of her finger on the pulse point. _And her heart is racing…_

"Tamao-chan, what're you—" Nagisa started.

"You're sick, Nagisa-chan."

"Eh?! No, I'm not. I feel fine," she protested.

Tamao looked at her companion in confusion.

"But… you have a temperature, and your throat…"

Nagisa trailed her fingers slowly up to her neck and let them rest over her voice box, shaking her head.

"I'm just a little thirsty," she said, letting her hand fall back down to rest on her thigh. "I was so tired that I fell asleep wrapped up in all my sheets. I think I may have overheated a bit," she said with a sheepish smile.

Tamao frowned and stared worriedly back at her grinning friend. Despite her cheerful tone, there was an edge to her voice. _She sounds… shaken. _Ignoring the little voice in her head telling her not to do it, Tamao reached forward and grasped Nagisa's hands, marvelling at how warm they were compared to her own.

"Nagisa-chan... were you having a nightmare?"

She must have hit a nerve, because the instant the words left her mouth Nagisa's head snapped up, staring back wide-eyed.

When it was obvious she wasn't going to either refute or confirm the claim, Tamao continued on, pulling their joined hands onto her lap.

"When you were sleeping before, you were moving around a lot and crying out in your sleep, and just a second ago your heart was racing like you had run a marathon. So I thought that maybe you'd had a scary dream," she said finally, watching the other girl carefully for a reaction. When none came, she started to doubt herself a bit and loosened her grip on Nagisa's hands. "Or maybe I'm just reading too much into this."

That seemed to snap the other girl into action, as she focused her eyes back on Tamao's gripped her hands firmly.

"No, you're right," she said quietly. "I _was _dreaming. I should have known that you'd pick up on that, Tamao-chan. You know me too well."

Despite her words, Tamao couldn't shake off the feeling that Nagisa wasn't being entirely honest with her, although she couldn't figure out for the life of her why she would need to lie about something like this.

"Do you want to talk about it?"

Nagisa shook her head. "No, it was just a stupid dream," she said. "Not worth mentioning…" She paused for a moment before blinking in sudden realisation. "Oh Tamao-chan, I'm so sorry for waking you up."

Tamao blinked.

"I woke you up didn't I? I'm sorry… I didn't think of it until now."

Tamao let out a surprised laugh, causing Nagisa to frown in confusion.

"You didn't. I was still awake," Tamao supplied.

"But it's…" Nagisa turned to look at the clock "… nearly three am," she said incredulously.

"Yes. And I'm an insomniac, so it's not uncommon for me to still be up at this time."

Nagisa looked taken aback, and then slowly a deep frown crossed her face.

"I didn't know," she muttered, so quietly that Tamao almost missed it.

"Nagisa-chan?"

Nagisa looked up, and Tamao saw guilt in the other girl's eyes.

"I didn't know that. You're my best friend and I didn't know," she said sadly. "I should have known."

Tamao smiled gently. "How were you supposed to?" she asked. "I don't mention it and you're always asleep before me."

Nagisa opened her mouth, frowned, and promptly closed it again.

"See? Now stop worrying about it. If I'd thought it important I would have told you. Now, how's your head?"

Nagisa frowned and rubbed it lightly, wincing as her fingers neared the point of impact.

"A bit sore, but I think I'll live."

Tamao giggled. "Thank goodness! I can't have my Nagisa-chan dying on me, now can I?"

Nagisa gifted her with a warm smile before letting go of her hands and standing up.

"Now, I am going to have a nice, cool shower and change into some clean pyjamas, because these…" she indicated her shirt and shorts, "… are disgusting."

Tamao laughed and watched silently as Nagisa busied herself around the room, preparing for her shower.

She tried to ignore the way Nagisa's clothing stuck to her skin as she walked, tried not to notice the way her top strained as she reached for something above her head, and valiantly tried to banish the mental images that kept popping up in her head. But try as she might, she just couldn't.

When Nagisa finally shut and locked the bathroom door, Tamao sunk down onto her bed, feeling slightly ashamed of herself.

_If Nagisa-chan knew…_

------------------------------

When Nagisa heard the quiet 'snick' of the bathroom door locking, she leaned back against it and closed her eyes. _It was just a dream. It didn't mean anything. I was just worried about exam results and my brain needed a way to unwind. _

She groaned and let her head fall back against the door, wincing when the egg on the back of her skull smacked into it. _Let's not do that again_, she thought, rubbing the back of her head gingerly.

After standing still for a few moments longer, Nagisa sighed and started to strip, throwing her now-sweaty clothes in a pile on the floor. After fiddling with the taps for a while, Nagisa stepped under the shower's spray, wincing a little as the cool water hit her skin.

It felt nice, she had to admit. Compared to the searing heat of her dreamscape, this coolness was just what she needed.

She hung her head and felt the beads of water run down her cheeks. _What was that dream about anyway? Should I even bother trying to figure it out? Would it do me any good? _She let out a frustrated groan and rested her open palm against the tiled wall beside her. _It was just a dream, right? It's not like I _wanted _that to happen. Or liked it._

Her mind recalled the events of her dream, and she felt her body respond. She groaned in frustration as a familiar sensation started coiling in her abdomen.

_What's wrong with me?_

She frowned and grabbed her body wash and began lathering; scrubbing at her body as though to wash away the imprint of the dream. There were many questions that needed answering, but maybe it would be better to think about them tomorrow, when she had gotten a bit more sleep. Tomorrow - or today now - she would be going shopping with Yaya.

The name caused a small spark of irritation to bubble in her chest. _After all, if Yaya-chan hadn't been joking around..._

She sighed as she rinsed off, turning off the taps and stepping out into the cool bathroom. She towelled off quickly and got dressed, relishing the feel of crisp - and more importantly - dry clothing against her skin.

_Maybe I can talk to Tamao about it, _she thought as she towelled off damp red hair. Taking a glance at the dirty pile of clothes, she quickly decided that she would leave them 'til morning. It was not like they'd get any dirtier just lying there overnight.

Letting one more weary sigh escape her lips, Nagisa put her hand on the doorknob and slowly turned the handle.

------------------------------

Tamao raised her head from her pillow as Nagisa re-entered the room in a fresh pair of pyjamas. _Pity, _she thought as the image of a sweat-soaked Nagisa flashed in her mind.

She smiled at the red-haired girl briefly, before dropping her head back down and rolling to face the wall. _It's probably better not to tempt myself, _she thought, listening as Nagisa busied herself about the room. Nagisa's bedside light switched off, and Tamao settled down for the night, waiting for the telltale sounds of her companion getting into bed.

She waited a few more moments, and when she didn't hear anything she rolled back to find out what her roommate was doing.

Her eyes widened when she saw the short redhead standing next to her bed, pillow in hand.

"Nagisa-chan?"

Nagisa gripped her pillow and smiled down at her best friend.

"I know I've already caused you a lot of trouble tonight…" she started a little uncertainly, "… and I know it's a bit hot for it. But, my sheets are all sweaty, and…"

Tamao waged a silent battle as her mind was pulled in two directions. The majority of her rejoiced at the chance to be closer to the other girl, while a much smaller but insistent part of her mind told her to turn Nagisa down – to forcefully put some distance between them by making her roommate sleep on the floor.

Ignoring what was probably the voice of reason, Tamao patted the empty spot beside her, feeling warmth rush through her veins at Nagisa's delighted smile.

This wouldn't be like last time; when they had been researching the Strawberry Dorm's mysteries. Nagisa wasn't in need of comfort, and it was much too hot to get too close to the smaller girl; but it was just enough to have her there, less than an arm's reach away.

Tamao felt the mattress dip, and as the familiar scent of Nagisa's apricot bodywash assailed her senses, she hid a small grin into her pillow. Nagisa would probably never know how much she enjoyed moments like this, and she still wasn't sure whether that was a good thing or not. If Nagisa found out and reciprocated her feelings, she would be living a dream; but if she didn't it could ruin her friendship and rob her of the roommate she had waited so many years for.

She sighed inwardly as she contemplated her quandary.

For the mean time, she would have to be content waiting and watching; observing her roommate for a sign that she was in with a chance, a sign that she wouldn't run screaming for the hills if she knew her true feelings.

She felt Nagisa stir behind her a bit before her quiet voice reached her ears.

"Tamao-chan? Can I—"

She seemed to hesitate.

"Yes?" Tamao prompted.

Nagisa was silent, and Tamao could almost hear the gears turning over in her head.

"Nothing," she said quietly. "Good night, Tamao-chan."

Tamao frowned but left Nagisa in peace, convinced that if she really wanted to talk about it, she would do it on her own time.

"Good night, Nagisa-chan."


	3. Chapter III

**Disclaimer: **I don't own it, so don't sue me. This one is a little longer than the rest because I couldn't find a good place to end the chapter. And excuse me if there is some strange formatting. For some reason it selects which words it will put in italics, and has occasionally deleted my full-stops. I try to catch all the little mistakes and fix them ASAP, but sometimes I miss them. Sorry about that. Thank you to everyone who has reviewed so far. Whenever I'm feeling a little unmotivated, reading a review always helps speed the process along. Thank you for taking the time to let me know that you like something - or just as equally if you find something you don't like. Feedback rocks my world.

**EPIPHANY – Chapter III**

------------------------------  
_Wave goodbye  
To what you were  
The rules have changed  
The lines begin to blur_  
------------------------------

"Hikariiiiii. Have you seen my keys?" Yaya cried as she rushed out of the bathroom.

Her blonde-haired roommate looked up from her reclined position on her bed, looking slightly startled as Yaya tore madly around their room.

"Eh? But didn't I see you with them yesterday?" she asked, manoeuvring herself to sit on the edge of the bed. "Did you check in the pockets of your uniform?"

Yaya frowned and nodded absentmindedly, rummaging through her desks drawers. "Yeah, that was the first place I checked."

She stopped as she finished scouring the contents of her desk, shutting the drawers a little more forcefully than necessary. "I don't have time for this!" she ground out, glancing around her room hopelessly.

"If you can't find yours, you can use mine, Yaya-chan," Hikari offered gently.

Yaya glanced at her roommate a little dubiously. "But surely you don't want to spend all of today in our room," she said, bending down to slip on her shoes. Her still-damp hair fell around her in curtains, and she pushed it back from her face in irritation. "Besides," she added, forcing joviality into her voice, "aren't you going to meet up with Amane-sama later on today?"

She heard fabric rustling, followed by the sound of feet padding lightly across the wooden floor, and looked up at her roommate. Hikari was walking towards her desk with a small smile on her face, her cheeks tinged pink.

Yaya felt her stomach tighten, and something twisted painfully in her chest. _Why do I keep bringing Amane up in conversation… do I really think that one day she's going to deny she's infatuated with her and jump into my arms instead? _

Yaya hid her grimace as she dragged her attention back to Hikari, noticing that the girl was leaning against her desk holding up a lanyard. From it hung the antiquated brass key that allowed them entry into their room.

"Amane-senpai still has exams to finish, so I'm not going to bother her until she's done," she said, the blush heating her cheeks again. "And I want you to have fun with Nagisa-san today, so I don't mind."

Yaya smiled warmly and walked over to Hikari, taking the key gently from her outstretched hand. As her fingertips brushed Hikari's palm she staved off the urge to pull the younger girl into an embrace, and shot her a sly grin as she thrust the key into her pocket. _That's it Yaya, can't have her thinking that you're actually serious about any of this. _

"Fun with Nagisa-san eh? I'd never have thought you'd suggest such a thing—although I see what you mean; Nagisa-san is cute," she said with a lecherous grin.

Hikari's eyes widened and she promptly turned, what Yaya deemed to be, fifty different shades of red.

When Yaya saw the girl's jaw hang open, she couldn't help but add, "And like you said, she does have a great body, but…" She wrapped her arms around Hikari's neck and leaned in so their faces were almost touching. "…You know you're the only girl for me, right?"

As Yaya had already predicted, Hikari assumed she was only playfully teasing, and smiled back affectionately. What she _hadn't_ counted on was Hikari wrapping her arms around her lower back and tucking her head in the crook of her neck.

Yaya stiffened briefly before relaxing into the embrace, sliding her arms down and wrapping them around Hikari's upper back. She felt the girl smile into her neck, and the grip on her waist tightened fractionally. "I know," came Hikari's soft reply, as she let out a small contented sigh.

A wave of fear and excitement washed over her when she heard Hikari's soft declaration, before she forced herself to calm down. _She didn't mean anything by it Yaya. Control yourself! _She glanced at the top of Hikari's head, still buried between her chin and collarbone. _It's not like she's actually guessed that you have feelings for her, or that she returns those feelings. She just meant it in a 'you're my best friend and I love you for it' kinda way. That's all._

_That's all..._

Taking a few more seconds just to enjoy the feel of Hikari in her arms, Yaya soon loosened her hold and gently pushed the smaller girl away.

On seeing the mystified look on her roommate's face she winked and said, "I can't have Nagisa-san come in and see us like that, can I? What if she gets the wrong impression? All of my hot and steamy plans for today will fly out of the window. Now… have you seen my wallet?" she asked, turning back to rummage through the random junk spread over her desk. "I'm sure I saw it just a second ago–"

Hikari let out an exasperated sigh. "Really, Yaya-chan, you need to take better care of your belongings."

A mental image of a scowling Tsubomi popped into her head, and Yaya let out a short bark of laughter. It was just the sort of thing the opinionated first-year would say.

"What?" Hikari asked, somewhat self-consciously as Yaya continued to chuckle quietly near her desk.

She turned and grinned at her roommate. "It's nothing. Forget about it."

Hikari stared back a little uncertainly at Yaya, watching as she hunted around on her desk for the elusive wallet.

"Ahhh, found it!" Yaya exclaimed, holding up the small leather object in glee. "Hey, my keys are here too! I don't remember putting them on my chair…"

She turned back to face the blonde-haired girl, yanking Hikari's key out of her shorts pocket by the free-dangling lanyard. "Guess I don't need this anymore," she said, placing it in her roommate's hand and curling her fingers around it. Yaya then slowly released her hand and looked around the room once more, frowning a little as she did.

"You wouldn't happen to know where my watch is either, would you?"

Hikari stared at the back of her friend's head, completely unsurprised that Yaya had also managed to misplace another important personal item.

Yaya, apparently unfazed by Hikari's lack of response, walked over and rummaged around on her desk, hoping that whatever mysterious force had caused her wallet and keys to suddenly appear on her desk chair had also decided to deposit her watch there.

She groaned in frustration as her search failed to turn up the elusive object. "Dammit. Oh wait," she said, rushing into the bathroom. Just as she had passed under the doorframe, a sharp knock came from their dorm door.

Ignoring the fact that she was closer, and would therefore make more sense for her to open the door, Yaya continued into the bathroom, yelling out to her roommate as she went. "Hikari, would you mind getting the door? It's probably just Nagisa-san!"

She faintly heard the girl's soft cry of assent, and she turned her attention back to locating her missing watch. She vaguely remembered having it in the shower this morning, like she did most mornings. Because there was no clock in the bathroom, and because she tended to get a little carried away of a morning, Yaya had taken to sitting her wristwatch on the ceramic soap-holder in the shower. The only question was whether she had taken it in this morning. When she was running late, things like watching the time tended not to matter.

From the bedroom, Yaya heard the faint sounds of Hikari opening the door, quickly followed by a muffled, "Nagisa-san. Good morning... Eh? Are you okay?"

She heard Nagisa respond, but couldn't make out the words.

Turning her attention back to the shower, she spied her watch lying exactly where she left it, and quickly retrieved it, snapping it over her wrist and fastening the chunky strap. After quickly double-checking her appearance in the mirror, she strode out into the bedroom to meet her shopping partner for the day.

The first thing Yaya noticed when she re-entered the room was Hikari's expression as she stood talking softly with Nagisa.

Her roommate never had been particularly good at hiding her emotions. Her face always betrayed her, and when she was particularly agitated she had trouble keeping her hands still. Currently that adorable little face was scrunched up in what Yaya interpreted as 'concern'. Hikari's big blue eyes were focused solely on Nagisa, her eyebrows had lowered and were attempting to fuse together and those soft lips had been drawn into a thin line. There was no doubting the meaning on that face.

Shifting her gaze to their guest, she discovered the reason for Hikari's concern. Nagisa was acting sedately, which was completely unusual for her. The diminutive redhead was usually brimming with energy, even when she was tired or frustrated, but today she was just standing against the doorframe, conversing softly with Hikari. The almost palpable good cheer that usually rolled off the short redhead was conspicuously absent.

"Good morning, Nagisa-san. You ready for some serious shopping today?"

Both Hikari and Nagisa turned when they heard the sound of her voice. Hikari gave her a small smile as she drew level with them both, shooting a pointed glance at Nagisa before returning her eyes to Yaya's.

Yaya couldn't help but mentally roll her eyes. _Subtle, Hikari. _Really _subtle. _Her eyes returned to Nagisa and she thought she saw a flicker of a frown cross the redhead's face, before it was replaced by a slightly shaky smile.

"Sure. You ready to go?" she asked cheerily.

Yaya nodded. She might have been imagining it, but Nagisa seemed a little unsettled this morning. _I wonder if something happened, _she wondered, thinking back on that small frown from earlier. _Was it something I did?_

"Yeah. Just let me grab a bag for this stuff first," she replied, walking to her closet to root around for her faithful backpack.

As she glanced over her shoulder, she noticed Nagisa talking easily to Hikari. The strained expression seemed to have disappeared and the beginnings of a small, genuine smile flitted across her face. Yaya frowned and turned back to face her closet. _Okay, so it looks like it's something I've done. But what on earth did I do? _

She finally spied the black strap of the tiny backpack and pulled it out triumphantly; throwing her keys, wallet and phone in, before approaching Nagisa.

"Alright. We off?"

Nagisa nodded and took off out the door with a quick wave to Hikari. When she was out of sight, Hikari shot Yaya a worried look.

Yaya shrugged. "I have no idea," she said, answering Hikari's unasked question. "I'm sure I'll find out soon enough, though."

Hikari smiled back and gave Yaya's hand a quick squeeze, offering her a quick "Good luck" before pushing her gently out the door.

------------------------------

Yaya glanced at Nagisa uncomfortably from across the passenger car of the train.

The awkward air that surrounded the older girl had not disappeared even after leaving the Strawberry Dorms. When she had first tried to talk to Nagisa about her unusual demeanour, she had been brushed off with an "I'm fine," and they had continued on to the head sister's office to get clearance to leave school property.

Since leaving the gates of Astrea Hill, they had engaged in small talk, but underneath it all, there was still that feeling of 'wrongness' in Nagisa's speech and manner. It was like she was distracted, nervous and annoyed. But for the life of her, Yaya couldn't figure out what could be wrong, or why it all seemed to be connected to her somehow.

Incorrectly assuming that Nagisa would eventually break her silence and rant about some tiny slight that had been done to her, Yaya had given her space. But now it was getting a little ridiculous, and she couldn't help but feel that Nagisa needed a little prompting to get whatever was bothering her off her chest.

"Alright Nagisa-san, this has gone on for long enough. Spill."

The redhead tore her gaze from the train's window, genuinely surprised to hear Yaya addressing her.

"What are you talking about?" she said shakily. "I'm absolutely fine. I told you the same when you asked me not fifteen minutes earlier."

Yaya frowned. "Yeah. I didn't believe it then either," she said, ignoring Nagisa's resulting frown. "So stop pouting and tell me what's going on. Why are you pissed at me?"

Nagisa's gaze swivelled back around and her eyes locked with Yaya's, widening slightly as though surprised. "I'm not."

Yaya glanced at her sceptically, and Nagisa dropped her gaze to her interlocked hands.

"I'm not really angry at you. It's just…"

"Just?" Yaya prompted, gesturing with her hands.

The hard edge from Nagisa's eyes dropped, and she looked almost scaredYaya got up from her seat and walked over to Nagisa, sitting down on the bench next to her. She watched as Nagisa's gaze stayed fixed on her hands, clenching ever tighter as the conversation progressed.

"No, really. It's—"

"I swear if the next word that comes out of your mouth is 'nothing' I'm going to throw you out of the window," Yaya threatened.

Nagisa blinked and grinned a little as the words sunk in, and Yaya couldn't help but sigh in relief.

"In all seriousness, it's just you and me here… why don't you tell me what's got you going all emo on me?"

Nagisa blinked. "Emo?"

Yaya returned her quizzical stare. "Yeah, emo," she said cautiously. "Like the music?" Nagisa continued to look at her blankly. "You know what, it doesn't matter. Point is you're acting very strangely and I want to know why."

This seemed to register, as Nagisa but her lip and shifted her hands to her knees, playing with the hem of her sundress. "Do you remember what we were talking about yesterday?" she asked in a quiet voice.

Yaya searched her memories for something significant, and on finding none she grinned sheepishly at Nagisa. "Sorry. You're gonna have to give me more information than that. We talked about a lot of things yesterday."

Nagisa's eyebrows lowered in frustration and she averted her eyes from Yaya's own, suddenly finding her hands very interesting.

"About Shizuma-sama… and private lessons?"

Yaya's eyes shot open and she grabbed Nagisa by the shoulders, tugging it in order to face the older girl. "It was true!?" she said in disbelief. "You and Etoile-sama—"

Nagisa paled and shook her head fervently. "No! That's not what I meant… well, not really anyway."

She took a deep breath and began to tell Yaya about her night.

"It was just after you all left…"

------------------------------

"So you're annoyed with me because you think I induced you to have a steamy dream about Shizuma-sama?" Yaya asked incredulously. "I don't know why you're angry about that… I can think of much worse ways to spend a night," she finished with a sly grin. "You should be thanking me."

Nagisa felt her cheeks flare again and she sighed internally. _Why did I tell Yaya-chan? I should have known she wouldn't take this seriously. _Her fists clenched at her sides, and she silently willed the blood to leave her cheeks once more. She had only just managed to stop blushing; she didn't want to start again.

"That's not the point!" she cried exasperatedly.

"Then what is?" challenged Yaya, standing up with her arms akimbo.

"I had a dream about another girl," she said emphatically. "_That's _the problem."

Yaya looked taken aback, as she slowly lowered both arms to hang by her side. "Ahh. So that's what this is all about!"

Nagisa watched as Yaya took a seat beside her again, crossing both arms behind her head and closing her eyes as she leant back against the headrest.

"So you're all moody because you had a dream about another girl, and now you find yourself confused," she summed up.

Nagisa made a small noise of agreement.

"So I'm guessing this is the first time you've had a somewhat-sexual dream about another girl?" Yaya asked.

Nagisa again confirmed Yaya's statement with a hesitant 'mmm'.

"Did you like it?"

Nagisa's eyes widened, and she turned to stare at the younger girl in mortification. "What sort of a question is that!?"

Yaya lazily opened one eye and matched Nagisa's glare, lowering her arms when she saw the girl's horrified expression. "A frank one," she replied. "If you didn't enjoy it, and it was all just a horrible nightmare, then you don't really have an issue here, do you? But if you did…" she trailed.

Nagisa let out the breath she was holding and glanced at Yaya cautiously. "And if I were to say that I… didn't hate it? Then what?"

"Then I'd say that it's possible that you're attracted to Shizuma-sama," she said easily.

And there it was. Nagisa felt her stomach drop to her shoes.

_I'm… attracted to Shizuma-sama? _

What she had been trying to deny for most of last night and this morning had just been casually thrown out there like it was the most obvious thing in the world. Nagisa supposed it was. It was certainly not the first time she'd had a racy dream, and probably wouldn't be the last, the only difference this time was that it was about someone who happened to be of the same gender. Surprising really how such a small change could make such a huge difference.

"–meant nothing at all!"

Nagisa dragged her attention back to the girl sitting next her.

"What?"

She had been so lost in thought that she hadn't noticed that Yaya was still speaking. Frankly she was still reeling from hers and Yaya's pseudo-discovery. It was kind of hard to instantly accept the fact that she may be attracted to a member of the same sex who also happens to be a… _friend?_ Nagisa frowned. There was that troublesome classification again_. Just what is Shizuma-sama to me?_

"Nagisa-san! Are you even listening to me? I can assure you I'm not blathering on for my own benefit!"

Nagisa flinched and stifled a cry when she felt a finger poke into her ribs – a finger that belonged to the slightly disgruntled girl who was staring at her quite insistently.

"Sorry Yaya-chan. I didn't catch that last part."

Yaya let out a melodramatic sigh, crossing her arms under her breasts. "Had you actually been _listening _to me, instead of falling into a gloomy funk, you would have heard me say that there are other interpretations of your dream to consider."

Nagisa glanced at the taller girl in interest. "Like what?"

Yaya held out one finger where it rested on her arm, with her eyes still shut. "Number one: You're genuinely attracted to Shizuma-sama. We've already been through that one, so I don't think it really need any further exploration just yet." She held up another finger. "Two: Like many girls at Astrea Hill and the Strawberry Dorms, you have a girl-crush on her."

Nagisa blinked at the unfamiliar term. Being in Yaya's presence often made her feel rather dim and naïve; the other girl seemed so worldly compared to her.

"Girl… crush?" she queried.

Yaya opened her eyes and turned to face her. "You really need to get out more often Nagisa-san," she remarked casually, and Nagisa gave her an embarrassed grin.

Yaya closed her eyes again and begun her explanation. "Women sometimes get 'crushes' on other women because they admire them. It's not a romantic or sexual thing, but it can cause some similar sorts of feelings. Like nervousness or excitement," she said. "Just think of how many straight women are 'in love' with female celebrities. It's almost like an enviable attraction." She paused. "Considering your complicated history with Etoile-sama, maybe your subconscious still perceives her as acting that way towards you."

She shrugged and held up a third finger, finishing her brief list. "Or three: It was just a dream, and it meant nothing at all."

Nagisa sighed, looking back out the window. "So basically, I still have a lot of thinking left to do."

Yaya smiled and cracked an eye open. "Correct. But…" She slung an arm around Nagisa's shoulders and continued, "...not today. Today we are away from Astrea Hill, away from Etoile-sama and other… distractions. And by God, we're gonna enjoy it," she exclaimed.

Nagisa smiled as she glanced at the younger girl, who was now raving about 'that damned choir'. _Maybe I'm not the only one who really needs to get away today_, she thought.

For the time being, she was going to take Yaya's advice and just put it to the back of her mind. _I just have to wait and see what happens. The next time I see Shizuma-sama I'll just have to see what I feel, and go from there. That's all I can really do at the moment I guess… _

The weight she had been carrying around with her all morning lightened, and she instantly felt her spirits lift. There was nothing quite like finding a solution to a troubling matter to improve one's mood – even if it was only a temporary reprieve. She would have to face facts sooner or later, but for now she'd just enjoy spending some time with a friend, chatting on a train before an enjoyable day of shopping.

------------------------------

_Shopping sucks! _Yaya thought as Nagisa dragged her towards another little store.

The small shopping strip was right across from the beach, and Yaya couldn't help but look at it in longing. They had already spent three hours roving around the streets, going from gift shop to gift shop in order to find a gift for Etoile-sama, and Yaya was almost at her wit's end. She didn't mind going shopping occasionally; it was a good way to waste some time and money if you were having a good day. But three hours was just a little more than she could handle.

Nagisa on the other hand didn't seem to be tiring at all. _Maybe she's one of those girls that adore shopping – like Hikari… I still don't know how she can spend all day in a shopping centre just browsing, _she thought in exasperation.

Yaya had never been driven by that bizarre compulsion that seemed to afflict so many girls her age. If she wanted to buy something, she would just go to the shop she wanted, buy it, and then leave. There was none of this 'wandering around until something catches my eye' business that both Hikari and her current companion seemed to enjoy so much. She sighed and let herself be lead by the arm, pausing only when she caught sight of a music store further along the street.

Nagisa paused and turned to look at her quizzically. "Yaya-chan? What's wrong?"

Yaya dragged her attention back to Nagisa, freeing herself gently from the shorter girl's grasp. "You go ahead, I'm just going to check something out."

She glanced around, until her eyes settled on an appropriate meet-up spot. "When I'm done, I'll wait by that big rock," she said, pointing to the monument near the beachfront. "You do the same okay, Nagisa-san?"

The older girl looked a little stunned, but nodded her assent anyway.

"Great. Have fun finding a gift," she said as she turned and walked towards the store.

It was a striking building. Not aesthetically pleasing, but it held its own sort of shabby charm. It looked almost out of place in the trendy seaside street; black paint flaking from the aged bricks, noticeboard filled with mangled weather-beaten posters and streaked paint announcing its specials adorning the windows. Yaya smiled. _This is _my _kind of shop, _she thought as she opened the heavy wooden door – not surprised in the least that the doorknob was loose and just about ready to fall off.

A bell chimed somewhere in the background, alerting the shopkeeper of Yaya's entry.

She closed the door behind her, giving it a bit of a nudge with her hips when it got stuck, and surveyed the shop. It was packed to the brim with musical equipment of all sorts: Drum kits; basses; amps; acoustic guitars; keyboards; violins; electric guitars and a range of other accessories and instruments. Yaya took a deep breath and relished in the unique smell of newly-manufactured instruments.

After idly wandering around the store, she came to stop in front of the acoustic guitars, marvelling in the sleek cut of the bodies, long necks and shining surfaces. _It's been so long, _she thought morosely as she ran her eyes over the guitars.

"Can I help you with something?" came a smooth male voice.

Yaya spun and took in the newcomer – a tall and lean young man with jet-black hair, a single eyebrow stud and a goatee. While Yaya herself was not particularly short, she felt positively petite compared to him, as he must have been close to six feet tall.

"Yeah," she said, turning back to the line of guitars. "I'm looking at buying a steel-string acoustic, but I'm still not sure exactly which to get yet."

She felt the young man walk up beside her and glanced at him over her shoulder. "You know much about guitars?" he asked, almost wearily.

"A bit," she said easily. "I have a nylon-stringer at home, and I'm familiar with steel-string acoustics. What do you have in the way of acoustics with pickup?"

Yaya heard a rustle of fabric, and turned her head back to the salesman. He had his arms crossed over his chest.

"What sort of price range are you looking at?"

Yaya shrugged the question off. "That's not really a problem. I'm just looking for a beautiful-sounding instrument." She paused. "I have heard some good things about the Yamaha APXs, though. Do you have them in stock?"

The salesman's eyebrows rose, and his arms dropped down by his sides. "Well, that was unexpected," he muttered in astonishment.

Unfortunately for him, Yaya heard, and threw him an irritated glare. He noticed and smiled, raising one hand in apology. "Sorry, that was rude of me. It's just, not many girls come in here who actually know _anything_ about guitars. I thought you were one of them. Now, we have the APX 500 and 900 in stock at the moment, but I think we're getting a new shipment of the 700's sometime next week. Were you looking at any model in particular?" he asked.

Yaya shook her head. "I wanted to actually see and hear them first. You wouldn't happen to have any ready-tuned on the floor, would you?"

The guy scrubbed a hand through his spiky hair and glanced up at the guitars. "Yeah, we have both just here but I think you'll like the 900. It has a smaller body than a lot of electric acoustics on the market but the sound doesn't suffer for it. He paused somewhat awkwardly. "The few women that we've had test them have said they're a lot less… bulky to get around too."

He walked over to a brilliant red guitar and picked it up gently by the neck.

"Would you like to try her out?" he asked, gesturing to a small stool.

Yaya nodded and sat herself down, watching as the salesman approached with the sleek instrument. It was really a gorgeous guitar; all sleek curves and smooth lines. _No wonder so many male guitarists think of their guitars as female…_

When the guitar was finally held out to her, she took hold of it gently, positioning it comfortably on her right thigh. She slowly ran a rand over the body and up the neck, getting a feel for the guitar's dimensions. The salesman was right, it was a slim design, and fit much more comfortably in her lap than her bulky classical guitar back home. She closed her eyes and leaned over the body, sliding her left hand up the strings to rest lightly on the fretboard.

From memory more than anything, she played the first song that came into her head, fingers stretching and changing position as she made her way through the intro.

When she was younger, and had been learning the guitar, she had become infatuated with one song in particular, so it was no surprise that this song came to mind straight away. She remembered many nights spent practicing until her fingers were raw trying to learn it, and even now she could play it almost flawlessly without looking.

It was so satisfying to have a guitar in her hands again; being able to slide her fingers over the rough surface of the strings and listen to the resultant notes, it was almost depressing to have to stop.

Yaya reluctantly opened her eyes when she had played through the first verse and chorus, smiling at the memory of its rich notes.

"That was really good," said the salesman. "You handled her beautifully. So... what did you think?"

Yaya grinned and ran a hand over the body again. "She was magnificent. I'm just a little rusty."

"I don't think so. Are you a fan of Metallica?" he asked.

Yaya nodded slightly. "Yeah. 'Nothing Else Matters' was one of the first songs I learnt on guitar. Even after all these years, it's still one of my favourites," she said a little wistfully.

The salesman grinned, but soon after, quickly sobered. "So are you from around here?" he asked directly. When Yaya's eyebrows rose in questioning, he quickly amended, "I promise you that didn't sound like a pick-up line in my head." He smiled genuinely. "I just wanted to know if you're part of a band around here."

Yaya blinked. "A band? No. I'm at the Strawberry Dorms on Astrea Hill. All the ones with musical talent there are in classical groups."

The salesman frowned, which caused the silver stud to shine as it hit a patch of light. "What about you then? Why aren't you in those groups?"

Yaya gave him a sardonic grin. "Because I'm the black sheep of Astrea Hill!" she said dramatically.

The salesman's brow furrowed some more, and he glanced down at Yaya. "Really? Then I may have a proposal for you…"

------------------------------

Yaya fingered the piece of paper in her pocket as she left the music store. On it was the salesman's number, who was called 'Takai' apparently. _Nice enough guy. Good taste in music too. _

She stepped out onto the footpath, and scanned the beachfront for a sign of her shopping companion. _Hope Nagisa-san had some luck, so we can finally go home!_

Her eyes lighted on a flash of red, and she smiled. _At least she's easy to spot in a crowd… she_ is _in a crowd, _she thought, as she spied a group of people around Nagisa. As she got closer she realised that the group were nearly exclusively male, but she was only really talking to two of them. _Ahh, poor Nagisa-san. Looks like it's Yaya to the rescue, _she thought as she slung her backpack over her shoulder.

She had almost expected to see Nagisa looking uncomfortable and trying to slip away from her 'companions', but as she approached, she noticed the warm smile and relaxed posture of her friend. _My, my. Nagisa-san the little flirt. Who would have thunk it. _As she got closer, she noticed Nagisa's head whip up and smile at her as she approached. When she finally stopped alongside her older companion, Nagisa turned to the two boys.

"Toshi-kun, Dai-kun, this is my friend Nanto Yaya-chan. She lives in the same dorm as me." Nagisa then faced Yaya. "This is Minobe Toshi-kun and Erizawa Dai-kun. We all went to the same middle-school together," she explained.

Yaya exchanged a brief greeting with both of them.

The taller of the two, Dai, was quite strongly built, his light brown hair falling messily around his eyes. And those eyes, Yaya noticed, were quite insistently focused on Nagisa. She smiled to herself.

The shorter companion, Toshi, sported a buzz cut, and was glancing at her with a disturbing gleam in his eye. _Maybe he thinks it's two-for-one day today, _she thought with a sigh, and then stifled a snort when she thought back to Nagisa's dream.

"So are you coming back home over the summer holidays?" Dai asked Nagisa, thrusting one hand into his baggy denim shorts.

Nagisa shook her head. "No, I have nowhere to come home to," she said somewhat sadly. "My parents have rented out the house while they're overseas, and all of my stuff is in storage. So it looks like I'll be staying at the dorms over the summer break."

At that, Dai's mood seemed to lift and he glanced at Toshi. "Well I'm staying at Toshi's grandparents' place around here for the next three weeks or so. Maybe we could get some of the gang together and catch up some time... if you're free, that is."

Yaya missed Nagisa's response, as Toshi was now asking her something. "What about yourself, Nanto-san, are you going home for the holidays?"

For once in her life, Yaya was grateful to be going home to her Father's empty estate. "Afraid so," she said with false regret. It wasn't that she didn't like Nagisa's friends; it was just that Toshi's apparent interest was making her slightly uncomfortable. And it didn't help that she could feel his eyes sliding rather often below chin level. "I'm not paid up to stay on campus over holidays, and I guess I should say hi to the old man every once in a while."

Toshi's face dropped. "Well that's a shame. But if Nagisa-chan and Dai are catching up, maybe I'll see you around the place, eh?"

Yaya started slightly at the young man's informal use of Nagisa's name. _Nagisa-chan? _She glanced quickly at the red-haired girl, who was still chatting easily to the taller guy. _Either Minobe-kun is a bit on the rude side, or Nagisa-san is quite close to them. _

Quickly realising that she hadn't responded to Toshi, she shot him a small smile. "Mmm," she murmured, somewhat neutrally.

Toshi seemed to read something in that response, and an unreadable smile crossed his face. "Well, I'd love to stay and chat some more, Nanto-san, but we've really gotta go. Don't we Dai?" he said cheerfully, glancing at his taller companion.

When the young man in question didn't respond, Toshi grinned wickedly. "Oi, Dai… I know it's painful, but could you tear your attention from Nagisa-chan for just one second?"

On seeing the taller boy's slight blush and scowl, Yaya's opinion of Toshi quickly rose. Here was a fellow button-pusher, and it seemed that Minobe-kun had his taller friend figured out quite nicely.

"What Toshi?" he asked gruffly, and Yaya could swear she could almost see waves of displeasure rolling off the taller boy.

Toshi just grinned back his response. "You'll have to put your flirting on hold for a moment, cause if we don't go now we're gonna miss the bus," he said, pointing to his watch.

She noticed Dai's jaw clench, and a little muscle flickered there as he bit back his anger. "Toshi," he growled in warning.

The shorter boy just smiled. "Fine, fine. But we really _are _going to miss the bus if we stay here any longer."

This seemed to drain away some of Dai's anger, and he let out a small sigh. "Right." He turned back to Nagisa. "I guess I'll see you around then," he said, with forced neutrality, Yaya noted. He then turned to face her. "Nice to meet you Nanto-san."

Yaya raised a hand, giving them both a brief wave.

Nagisa grinned at both boys. "It was good to see you guys again. See you around."

Yaya waited until they had reached a safe distance before glancing down slyly at her shorter companion. "Well… they were friendly… the tall one was certainly smitten with you. You know him well?"

Nagisa flushed lightly, but it wasn't nearly the kind of response she had hoped for. "Dai and I were going out for most of last year," she said quietly.

Yaya just about fell over in shock; it seemed Nagisa was full of surprises today. _Although it does make her reaction to her dream a little more understandable. _

Nagisa seemed to notice her reaction and scowled a little. "What?" she asked defensively.

Yaya laughed and shook her head. "Nothing, I just hadn't expected him to be your ex-boyfriend, is all."

This didn't seem to be the response that Nagisa particularly wanted to hear. "What's that supposed to mean?" she asked, frowning a little as her flush intensified.

"Nothing," Yaya replied evenly. "I was just surprised. You get along so well for exes."

Nagisa sighed. "I don't get what the big deal is with people hating their exes," she said wearily. "We never had a falling out, we just decided to have some time apart and then never really got back together again. We were friends long before we got together, so I don't think it's a big deal." She turned to glance inquisitively at Yaya. "Have you hated your ex-boyfriends?"

Yaya frowned at Nagisa's last statement. _Ex-boyfriends? _

"No, not ex-_boy_friends," she said pointedly.

Nagisa frowned. "What's _that _supposed to mean, why—"

A flash of comprehension dawned on Nagisa's face, and Yaya smiled. "There it is!" she cried.

Nagisa looked at Yaya in astonishment. "You're gay?"

Yaya smiled at Nagisa's bluntness, nodding. "Yeah. You seem surprised," she pointed out.

Nagisa still looked rather dazed. "That's 'cause I am!" Her bewilderment turned to comprehension and she grabbed Yaya by the arm, tugging her around to face her. "Wait… so that's why Tsubomi-chan said what she did when she found us by the lake yesterday. She knows?"

Yaya laughed. "Seems like it," she said absently. "Nothing seems to escape that one's notice."

Nagisa stood there silently, obviously trying to process everything. After a few seconds of silence, she rounded on Yaya once more, a scowl on her face. "Why didn't you tell me you liked girls when I was telling you about the dream?" she asked. "That would have made things a lot easier," she grumbled.

Yaya raised an eyebrow. "I thought you already knew. And what difference would it have made? I would have given you exactly the same advice anyway!"

Nagisa loosened her grip on Yaya's arm as the scowl fell from her face. "I guess," she conceded.

Deciding that now was a good time to change the subject, Yaya gestured to the bag sitting by Nagisa's feet. "So, I'm guessing you found something for Etoile-sama then?" she asked.

"Huh?" Nagisa said dumbly. "Oh, yeah. And I ran in and found Tamao-chan's present too. I'll show them to you in the train on the way back if you'd like," she said happily. "Speaking of which, what say we head back home… Oh wait, did you get what you came for?" she asked.

Yaya nodded and felt the piece of paper with Takai's number start to burn a hole in her pocket. "Yeah. How long til the next train comes?"

Nagisa flicked her wrist over and glanced at the time. "Uhh, in another thirty minutes, I think. Wanna grab some tea and cake before we go?"

Yaya smiled, and watched as Nagisa picked up her shopping. The shorter girl was acting normally around her, even after just finding out about her sexual orientation. No matter what could be said about the short redhead, she was certainly a good person.

"Sure. As long as it's your treat!" she replied.

She didn't have to wait long to hear Nagisa's indignant cry of protest, or to see the pout that accompanied it. "But you're richer than me," she grumbled.

"And I just spent three and a bit hours walking around with you to try and find a present for the girl you have hot dreams about."

Nagisa flushed red again and started spluttering in protest, as Yaya slung an arm around her shoulders and started to lead her in the direction of the train station.

"You can object later," she interrupted. "'Cause right now you and I both need a chocolate fix."

Nagisa scowled, but let herself be led down the street. Yaya couldn't help but smile down at the older girl's head; despite being bored out of her mind for part of the day, it really had been quite eventful and fun. It would certainly be interesting to see what Nagisa was going to do about her little quandary. _An ex-boyfriend who's still interested, a racy dream about another girl and the summer school trip coming up. _

Somehow she got the feeling that things were going to get very interesting over the next few weeks, and she didn't know whether that was a cause for celebration or commiseration.


	4. Chapter IV

**Disclaimer: **Great album, go buy it. If you understand that joke you have great taste in music, if not – better luck next time ;) Seriously, I still don't own it, probably never will. Hopefully the length of this chapter will tame the angry beasts within you dear readers, but if not I can always offer internal organs as penance. Special shout out to _HipsInc_, who has the honour of being my first anonymous reviewer! Thank you for taking the time to comment; it was greatly appreciated. And as always Tim Tams and coffee for the reviewers who consistently leave comments after each post. You guys are incredible. If you like it, or think something could do with a bit of work, drop me a review. Feedback is my ambrosia.

**EPIPHANY – Chapter IV**

------------------------------  
_So hold on,  
Don't you dare to be scared,  
A dream is just a truth or dare._  
------------------------------

Rokujou Miyuki paused for the briefest of seconds before knocking on the solid dormitory door.

Beyond it lay the only person she knew who could consistently throw her off balance, test her formidable patience and exasperate her like no other. Her one-time roommate and the only person she could call a true friend: Hanazono Shizuma. The silver-haired girl had been a pillar of support for her in their first-year at the dorms when she had been riddled with homesickness. She'd even come to find her when she left their dorm room to cry somewhere quiet, and had let her share her bed, that one last time, to help her calm down.

When rumours of her nightly escapades finally started spreading through the Strawberry Dorms, Shizuma had protected her secret, casually providing her with an alibi before suspicion could be rounded on her. It was that small action, and Shizuma's continuing support, that had allowed Miyuki to finally overcome her crippling homesickness.

A soft reply sounded from the other side of the door, and Miyuki slid her hand down to the doorknob, turning it and entering the modest room.

Shizuma was sitting at her desk staring out of the window, her textbooks scattered messily around her. Knowing Shizuma, those books had probably been sitting there since the exam period.

"What do you want, Miyuki?" Shizuma's soft voice enquired, her head still turned to look out the window.

She noted the thinly veiled hint of annoyance in the other girl's voice and tried to ignore how much it still hurt. Her emotionless disregard still cut deeply – whether Shizuma intended it or not.

"Well that's nice," she said nonchalantly as she crossed her arms over her chest and leaned against the door. "Why do you naturally assume that I want something from you?"

She watched as Shizuma's head turned slightly before shifting back to stare out of the window.

"Because you always do."

Miyuki sighed and pushed away from the door, walking slowly towards her silver-haired friend. When she reached the girl's unmade bed, she sat herself down on the edge in an effort to get Shizuma to at least acknowledge her presence. It seemed to work, as she turned in her chair and stared back at Miyuki, her face an impassive mask.

Miyuki really hated that expression.

She crossed her arms across her chest, returning Shizuma's emotionless stare unflinchingly. "Actually I came to give you some news, about exam results."

Shizuma raised an eyebrow. "I've already checked them, Miyuki. I passed." She said, pausing briefly. "Don't tell me you failed," she added with the slightest uplift of her mouth.

Miyuki snorted lightly in a mixture of amusement and surprise and dropped her defensive posture – putting her hands on the bed behind her and leaning back as she supported her weight on her arms.

"Not likely. Can you imagine what Sister Hamasaka would do if Miator's Student Council President failed her exams?"

This time Shizuma smiled genuinely – obviously amused at the images that particular scenario evoked. There was no love lost between Miator's head sister and the current Etoile. Shizuma had spent far too much time in the sister's office for either party's liking for her to ever have a particularly warm relationship with the aging head of the school. Not that Sister Hamasaka ever 'warmed up' to anyone, really. The only person she was even remotely civil to was Miyuki herself.

From beneath lidded eyes, Miyuki noticed Shizuma relax her posture as she lowered her head lazily into her open palm, and felt herself relax more as a result. Today looked like it was going to be a good day – Shizuma was actually in the mood to socialise.

"I'm sure she'd pat you on the back and say: 'Better luck next time'," the Shizuma commented lightly, and Miyuki allowed herself a small chuckle.

"I wouldn't bet on that," she replied wryly.

They shared a moment in comfortable silence before the silver-haired girl finally broke the peaceful atmosphere.

"So what was it that you wanted to tell me?" she asked a little more warmly.

Miyuki shifted on the bed, adjusting her bodyweight so that it was supported mostly on one arm. With her now free hand she swiped away the errant strand of hair that was hanging in her eye.

"It's about the fourth years' exam results…" she started cautiously, watching Shizuma for a reaction.

It was subtle, but her eyes widened a fraction and flicked up to meet Miyuki's calculating gaze curiously. Then, as quickly as it had appeared, the interest was gone, replaced by that damnable apathetic expression.

Miyuki suppressed a sigh of irritation.

"…I wasn't sure if she'd been by to tell you herself yet, but by the looks of things, she hasn't."

Miyuki knew she was being unnecessarily vague, but she was almost sure Shizuma would follow the line of conversation. Then again, it would be like Shizuma to play dumb.

"Would you like me to tell you how she went?" she pressed.

Shizuma closed her eyes, as though considering the request.

"If she wants me to know, she'll tell me herself."

Miyuki studied the silver-haired girl's profile with concern. Shizuma showing an interest in other girls was not an uncommon thing. Indeed, she had more than exploited her position both as Etoile and as one of the school's most attractive girls to flirt and toy with some of the other students. But, while problematic in itself, Miyuki knew that Shizuma's behaviour was relatively harmless, and that her interest would wane in each of her 'victims' before anything really serious could happen.

The simple fact that she had remained interested in one girl for an extended period of time, and had gone out of her way to help her prepare for exams was troubling. It didn't fit with Shizuma's normal pattern of behaviour. And while they didn't seem to be more than friends at this stage, Shizuma's reluctance to even acknowledge the girl as such was ringing alarm bells in Miyuki's head.

She only wished she knew Shizuma's intentions; the last thing she wanted was to see the poor girl hurt because of her friend's inherent ignorance and penchant for selfishness.

Miyuki sighed as she rose to her feet, the sound of rustling fabric causing Shizuma's eyes to open and track her lazily.

"In any case, I don't think you'll have to wait too long to find out. I'm sure Nagisa-san will want to thank you—irrespective of her results."

There, her name was finally out there, but this time there was no reaction from her closest friend. She supposed it was to be expected, this was how many of their interactions had progressed recently. She would ask questions, Shizuma would provide an evasive answer, and she would end up with very little idea of what was going on behind those golden eyes.

Then again, Shizuma always _was_ full of surprises.

"You're leaving?" Shizuma queried, lifting her head from its resting place on her bent arm.

"I have some council duties to attend to," she said as she walked to the door. As her hand closed around the doorknob, she turned back to face her former roommate, stifling a grin. "Oh, and I believe the Sister requires your presence."

Shizuma glanced at her quizzically, suspicion slowly spreading on her face.

"Sister Hamasaka? Why?"

"A few families are touring through the campus today and since I have Student Council duties, I told the Sister that you'd take my place."

To Shizuma's credit, and perhaps a testament to her acting abilities, her expression remained unchanged, except for maybe a slight narrowing at the eyes.

To bleed away a little of Shizuma's annoyance, Miyuki added: "If you do this, I'll forget about all the times I've had to cover for you over the past year. Providing you fulfil your duties as Etoile properly in the future."

"I knew you wanted something from me," Shizuma said in exasperated amusement.

Miyuki gave her a soft smile. "I just didn't want to disrupt the status quo," she said evenly. "Who would control your life if not for me?"

They shared a smile for a few timeless seconds before Miyuki turned her back and opened the door, pausing as she passed under the frame.

"I might drop by later this afternoon to see how it all went," she said, purposely leaving the meaning of her sentence ambiguous. Shizuma was obviously reticent to talk about Nagisa, and Miyuki just couldn't bring herself to question her any further on the subject. It would only make her uncomfortable, and Shizuma less inclined to open up of her own accord.

Besides, Shizuma always had always been the master of one-on-one confrontations, and she didn't particularly feel like losing a fight today. She also didn't feel like setting fire to Shizuma's rather short fuse.

Not many people knew that Shizuma had a temper, which was probably a good thing. Miyuki herself had only been subject to it once: when she had confronted Shizuma about the nature of the relationship between her and their frail room temp. In hindsight she had gone about it completely the wrong way, going so far as to accuse the silver-haired girl of preying on the younger girl's weakness.

Unsurprisingly, Shizuma had reacted badly and let fly. They didn't speak to one another for three weeks after that: Miyuki even moving herself out of their shared room until they'd reconciled.

That was the problem with having a best friend: they knew too much about you. So if the relationship turned sour, they knew just where to hit to cause maximum damage. Shizuma had proven herself rather adept at that particular skill, which was part of what made her a formidable sparring partner – she could pick up on the tiniest nuance and exploit it before her victim knew what was happening.

Besides, the last thing she wanted was to stir Shizuma up regarding her relationship with the fourth year. Knowing her friend, Shizuma would pursue Nagisa much more aggressively if she were warned against it. Miyuki feared for Nagisa's emotional well-being when Shizuma finally moved on to the next girl – as she always did.

After not hearing a response from Shizuma for a while, Miyuki turned her head to glance at the girl. Maybe she'd been too nosy after all…

But her fears were set to rest when she saw Shizuma smile and nod, causing warmth to blossom in her chest. _Maybe there's still some of my friend left in there, _she thought, as she shut the door gently and rested back against its cool surface. It was true that she had been seeing more and more of her friend of old lately. Somehow she got the feeling she knew why.

An image of Shizuma walking hand-in-hand with Nagisa flashed through her mind and she felt her good mood disappear.

"Nagisa-san, huh?" she mused, pushing off the door and making her way towards the council room.

As distasteful as it was, her only course of action at present was to wait and let things play out naturally; she just hoped no-one would get hurt in the process.

------------------------------

"Come on, Nagisa-chan. Let's go have a look at our exam results," Tamao said, her voice slightly muffled as she called through the thick bathroom door.

Nagisa's hands clenched around the cool ceramic of the sink as her stomach tried to tie itself in knots. The day she had been dreading was finally here: exam results were released, and she would find out whether she would have to take catch-up classes over the summer break to avoid repeating the year.

She took a deep breath, and tried to calm her mind, which only served to make the churning in her stomach more pronounced.

She knew her worrying was senseless – her marks had been decided on the day of the exams – yet here she was making herself sick to the stomach just to go and see a few numbers on a piece of paper. _I'm being so stupid_, she thought, turning on the cold tap and splashing some water on her face. It didn't help much, but it was cold and shocking enough to distract her as she covered the distance between sink and bathroom door.

When she opened the door, she was met with Tamao's concerned expression, which only seemed to worsen when she gave her friend a shaky smile.

"Nagisa-chan—" her friend started hesitantly. "Are you okay? You look a little pale."

Nagisa swallowed heavily as her stomach gave another uncomfortable twist, but pushed it to the back of her mind.

"I'm fine Tamao-chan, just a little nervous," she said as she held a hand protectively over her stomach. "I don't know what I'll do if I've failed." She paused as a thought came to mind. "Actually scratch that— I don't know what my _parents _will do if I've failed. Considering how much they're paying for me to be here I wouldn't be surprised if they pulled me out and sent me to one of the public high schools."

Tamao's eyes widened and she shook her head in disbelief.

"Surely they wouldn't!"

Nagisa shrugged and collected her keys from the shelf above her bed, looping the lanyard over her neck and stuffing the cool metal down her shirt. She cringed a little as the cold brass of the key struck the skin on her stomach.

"I really don't know what they'd do. Either way I don't think it would mean anything good for me," she remarked casually, as she adjusted the lanyard's strap around her neck.

This seemed to disturb her roommate, who shook her head vehemently.

"No! We can't let them. I wont let them take you away from me," she said, latching onto Nagisa's arm. "If it comes to that, I'll fight tooth and nail to keep you here!"

Nagisa started a little at Tamao's outburst, but soon her surprise was replaced with a warm smile on hearing the intensity in her friend's words. She could always count on the blue-haired girl to fight for her, whether she wanted her to or not.

"Why don't we worry about that after we go and see the results? There's no point in working ourselves up until we find out," she said, more to herself than to her roommate.

Tamao nodded hesitantly, obviously still worried over Nagisa's earlier admission.

Nagisa caught sight of her concerned expression and mentally berated herself for projecting her fears on her empathetic roommate.

"Right! Let's go!" she said, sliding her arm out of Tamao's grip to catch her hand in her own. When her fingers closed around the other girl's she could almost swear she felt Tamao flinch. _My hands must be still cold from the water, _she mused as she dragged the slightly taller girl out of their room. Certainly, Tamao's hands were much warmer than her own. Soft too.

Tamao seemed a little shell-shocked, and didn't speak until they were already halfway down the corridor.

"Nagisa-chan, I know that you're all energised now," she started a bit hesitantly. "But don't you think we should at least lock our door before we go?"

Nagisa stopped and slowly turned to face her best friend, an embarrassed smile slowly spreading on her face.

"Sorry, I think I got a little caught up in the heat of the moment."

Tamao chuckled softly as she tugged Nagisa back towards their room. "Never mind about that, it's just good to see you a little more optimistic about this. I'm sure you have nothing to worry about, anyway."

When they reached the door, Nagisa dropped Tamao's hand, stuck it down the front of her shirt and grabbed the straps of her lanyard, wincing as the still-cold key once again made contact with her skin. When she had successfully retrieved her key, she turned back to face Tamao again, noticing the other girl averting her gaze with a faint tinge of pink dusting her cheeks. _Uh, _she thought as she evaluated her actions objectively. _I guess sticking your hand down your top isn't really the most polite thing to do in public…_

"Sorry, Tamao-chan, I'll just be a second," she said as she inserted the key into the lock and turned it. A soft 'snick' signalled the mechanism had engaged, and she tugged gently on the door to ensure that it had locked properly. Finally satisfied that their room was no longer at risk of being burgled, Nagisa turned back to her roommate. Luckily Tamao's embarrassment at her actions seemed to have died down, and now the blue-haired girl was simply smiling back at her.

Nagisa carefully replaced the key back around her neck, and let out a weary sigh as she turned to face the open corridor. Somewhere along the way she had lost the mysterious burst of energy that had filled her before, and now that she had nothing to occupy her mind, the sickening wave of apprehension resumed its attack on her insides.

Tamao seemed to notice her distress, and laid her hands on the shorter girl's shoulders from behind.

"Ready, Nagisa-chan?" she queried softly.

Nagisa shot a shaky smile over her shoulder. "Not really, no."

Tamao grinned and gave the diminutive redhead a gentle push in the back, forcing her to take a few steps forward to keep her balance.

"All right, all right. I'm going, I'm going," she said as she made her way down the corridor. "You know, you're really pushy sometimes, Tamao-chan."

Tamao chuckled and threaded her arm through Nagisa's own, tugging her gently forward. "I know. Now, let's get going. So we can finally put an end to your misery once and for all."

Nagisa groaned. "That's not really filling me with confidence, Tamao-chan!"

Tamao squeezed her arm tighter and laughed softly as she dragged Nagisa out of the Strawberry Dorms and towards the imposing stone building containing Miator's classrooms.

------------------------------

Nagisa sighed as she looked at the crowds of girls gathered around the noticeboards. They had finally reached St Miator's school grounds only to be swamped by frantic girls chattering excitedly about their results. Well, not all of them. Nagisa did see a few who were being consoled by their friends, not quite crying, but not far from it if her eyes were to be believed.

Her insides gave another uncomfortable lurch, and she fought the urge to turn tail and run from the noticeboard. _The 'fight or flight' response, _her brain supplied. _At least now I can put a name to it, _she mused, reflecting on the subject material covered in the biology stream of their science class. _Well, I should have done alright in that subject at least… but if I'm going to fail one, it's going to be stupid French_—

She felt a gentle squeeze on her arm, and looked up into Tamao's concerned face. Her best friend had been looking at her like that a lot recently, which made Nagisa feel slightly ashamed of herself; she really shouldn't make Tamao-chan worry like that. Her best friend was sometimes really just too caring for her own good.

Nagisa swallowed, took a deep breath and slid her hand into the blue-haired girl's for emotional support.

"Okay. Let's do this," she said, in a slightly shaky voice.

Tamao remained strangely quiet as she was lead through the mass of bodies blocking their way to the board, all the while ensuring that she didn't lose her grip on Nagisa hand. Navigating through the crowd wasn't particularly easy given Nagisa's lack of height, and while she wasn't tiny, she was a bit shorter than a lot of girls her age, which meant she couldn't force openings amongst the crowd if she wanted to.

One of her taller classmates turned suddenly, and Nagisa held back a pained grunt as an elbow was driven into the side of her breast. _There's also that_, she thought ruefully as she used the upper part of her arm to brace her injured body part. Being short also put her at elbow level to her other companions – a fact she had experienced far more often than she would have liked.

Men often complained about the exquisite pain of being kicked in the groin, but people often underestimated how much a well-placed elbow to the breast could sting – especially if delivered with enough speed.

From behind her, she heard Tamao let out a muffled giggle and turned her head to shoot daggers at her best friend. At least she had the good grace to look apologetic. _Talk about kicking a girl when she's down, _she thought miserably, as the intense burning faded into a dull ache. That was the problem with being elbowed when in a crowded place: it was impossible to just massage the pain away. Well, it was possible… but it would probably draw some very strange looks.

When she was finally able to concentrate on something other than the pain radiating from her chest wall, she tugged on Tamao's hand and made her way a little more forcefully through the crowd. Hopefully if she made enough noise, people would be more mindful when they decided to turn suddenly.

When they finally reached the front of the crowd, Nagisa got hit with another dose of adrenaline – causing her heart to race and her stomach to do gymnastics. She felt Tamao's arm brush her own as she drew up alongside her and she silently thanked Tamao for her show of support.

Her eyes scanned the list, searching for her name amongst her classmates. After a few fruitless seconds of searching, Tamao gently bumped her arm.

"There, Nagisa-chan!" she said, pointing to a small series of symbols at the top the list.

Nagisa followed the line of her finger, heart hammering in her chest as her eyes settled on the familiar kanji of her family name. She read down the list of subjects:

蒼井渚砂

**(Aoi Nagisa) **

Japanese: 90

English: 82

Mathematics: 71

Social Studies: 85

Science: 80

French: 64

Nagisa blinked as she took in the results. According to those percentages she had gotten an A, B, C, B, B and a C. All of them were passing grades, even in her much-loathed French. She could vaguely hear Tamao-chan's excited murmurings beside her, but it was all just background noise as she processed everything: She wouldn't have to take catch-up classes over summer; her parents wouldn't have to wonder why they were paying an arm and a leg to send her to a prestigious school; she'd get to go to summer school with everyone else; Tamao-chan wouldn't be riddled with guilt over Nagisa's failing and she wouldn't have let Shizuma-sama fall into disgrace because of her.

She felt the corners of her mouth tug upwards, and let out a surprised laugh as she all but tackled Tamao-chan in front of the noticeboards.

"I passed, Tamao-chan," she cried triumphantly, throwing her arms around her blue-haired roommate's back. Only too late did she remember about the bruising jab she'd received, and cringed as her injured chest ended up crushed up against her friend's. Tamao didn't seem to notice her discomfort, and tightened her hold as she laughed with relief. Once again, Nagisa put her contortion tricks to the test as she attempted to pull back without offending her jubilant roommate.

When they finally separated, Tamao led Nagisa out of the crush of students, towards a small clearing near the far wall.

"Ah, Tamao-chan, how did you go?"

"Sorry?"

Nagisa looked at her roommate strangely. "Your results, how did you go?"

Tamao's eyebrows shot up, and she glanced toward the noticeboards. "Hmm, I wonder," she mused.

"Eh!? You didn't check?" Nagisa cried, staring at her roommate incredulously.

"Not yet. I was so worried about how you'd gone that I didn't really think to check my own," she said idly.

Nagisa didn't know whether to roll her eyes in exasperation or hug her roommate for her selflessness. Tamao-chan was always putting her well being before her own, and while extremely touching, it concerned her greatly. It seemed as though a lot of Tamao-chan's happiness hinged on her state of being rather than Tamao-chan's own desires.

They quickly made their way back into the throng, Nagisa crossing her arms over her chest to protect it from any more flying appendages, and stopped at the fourth years' noticeboard.

Her eyes scanned the list of names, finding Tamao's further down the list. As she read over them, she felt jealousy burn in the pit of her stomach. It really wasn't fair.

涼水玉青

**(Suzumi Tamao)**

Japanese: 96

English: 90

Mathematics: 84

Social Studies: 91

Science: 91

French: 87

"A, A, B, A, A, B" intoned Nagisa as she interpreted her best friend's grades. She turned to the taller girl, a playful expression on her face. "You're just too smart, you know that."

Tamao smiled shyly.

"She's right you know," came a familiar voice.

Making their way through the mass of students were Mizushima Noriko and Takemura Chihaya – the two girls next door to them in the Dorms. "You'll go making people jealous if you keep that up," said Mizushima, the taller and more athletic of the pair.

Tamao and Nagisa chuckled as the pair drew up alongside them.

"Were you both happy with your results?" asked the ever polite Tamao-chan.

Nagisa knew that some people were a bit defensive when it came to their results, so phrasing the question that way allowed them to reveal as much or as little as they'd like to. She sighed internally; she would never hope to be as refined as Tamao-chan when it came to matters like these.

Mizushima shrugged, a bored expression on her face.

"I did enough to pass. I'm happy enough with that," she said easily.

Her shorter roommate seemed to be annoyed by that answer, and a light frown caused her eyebrows to dip.

"Well, if you only spent less time sleeping, and more time studying, you'd do a little better on your exams," she commented.

Mizushima frowned when she heard her roommate's remark and whirled on her angrily.

"I don't care about exams, Chihaya. Neither do my parents. So I don't see why I should bust a gut when I don't have to."

Nagisa sighed, and decided to cut the argument off before it could progress to anything more sinister. Even now, they were starting to get some strange looks from the girls around them as well as a few frustrated ones from those still trying to see their own names on the list.

"Um, why don't we go back to our room and have some tea to celebrate?" she suggested.

Tamao seemed to pick up on her train of thought, and eagerly jumped in. "Good idea. My family just sent me a hamper with some red and white tea; why don't we go back and try some?"

Their tactic seemed to have worked, as the other girls had stopped mid-sentence and smiles slowly spread across both their faces.

"Sounds great," said Chihaya. "I have some pastries that are dying to be eaten back in my room. I'll bring them over so we can celebrate properly."

Nagisa let out a relieved sigh, and saw Tamao-chan do the same thing in her peripheral vision. Once those two got going it was often difficult to stop them; they were just lucky they had been able to stem the flow when it was at a trickle, rather than the gushing torrent it could become if given enough time and the 'right' words.

Nagisa stuck close behind Mizushima as they made their way out of the sea of students, using her height to shield her from any further flailing limbs. As they made their way into a clear patch of corridor, she scanned the crowd at the far end of the corridor, where the sixth year homerooms were, hoping to catch a glimpse of silver in the sea of students. She let out a small sigh of disappointment when she failed to locate Shizuma-sama among the other students. _Not surprising, I guess_, she thought as she wandered out of the school building with her classmates. _She'd probably be swamped if she came here now._

Even though she'd rationalised it all out, she couldn't help but feel as though her elation at having passed all her exams was diminished somewhat by not being able to share it with her tutor.

------------------------------

Nagisa sighed in irritation as she walked along the path back from the greenhouse.

It was starting to get dark, and her search had so far failed to locate Shizuma-sama at any of her usual haunts. She had tried her bedroom, the greenhouse, the lake foreshore and even the clearing in the forest, but she had yet to catch a glimpse of the silver-haired girl. If there was one thing Shizuma-sama was good at, it was preventing herself from being found. Even Rokujou-san's search parties failed to locate the elusive Etoile when she decided she didn't want to attend a meeting.

_Someone should really put a tracking device on her_, Nagisa mused as she hugged Shizuma's present to her chest.

Their celebratory party with the girls next door had continued well into the afternoon, with Chiyo and the girls from Spica dropping by to congratulate them all on their results. One cup of tea very quickly turned into two, then three, and before they all knew it the sun was starting to set. When Nagisa had finally excused herself, citing errands to be run, Yaya had glanced at her slyly before giving her a thumbs up. Nagisa, of course, had blushed brilliantly before slipping out with her hidden package.

She wasn't so much hiding things from her friends as she was… selectively informing them of certain matters. The last thing she wanted was having more people jump to the wrong conclusion – like Yaya-chan had. She didn't think Shizuma-sama would really appreciate the extra attention either.

As she rounded a corner on the sandy path she was momentarily blinded by the setting sun shining through the gaps in the trees. Cursing her lack of foresight in bringing a pair of sunglasses, Nagisa flung an arm over her eyes to protect them from the sunlight. Thankfully, the gates of the Strawberry Dorms appeared just in her line of vision, which would mean her eyes would soon get a reprieve. The ancient three-story building should cast a large shadow over the grounds, effectively blocking the setting sun from Nagisa's line of sight. She picked up her pace and hurried along the path, squinting as she passed through the gates.

She had really hoped that she would have already found Shizuma-sama by now, so she could return to her room and give Tamao-chan her present, but it seemed that luck was just not on her side today. It wasn't a big deal anyway, she could just wait to give it to Shizuma-sama tomorrow. _Which might actually be a good idea_, she thought as she finally passed beneath the buildings shadow. _I'm not sure I can act normally around her after…_ she cut off that train of thought before she ended up distracting herself. _In any case, maybe it would be better to take some time and reflect on things before I encounter her again._

Nagisa waved to a group of girls sitting out on the grass, watching as they got up and shifted as the shadows invaded their sunbaking space. There were still a few residents wandering the dorms, but Nagisa had expected a few more out unwinding as the stressful exam period finally came to a close. _Maybe they're having early nights to make up for pulling all-nighters during exams._ She opened the big double doors leading to the Dorm's main hallway, holding it open as a group of young Lulim students approached. _Sounds nice actually,_ she thought, picturing her comfy bed and pillow.

Because she had been so anxious about results she had tossed and turned most of the night – her insomniac roommate even beating her to sleep. She had purposely not looked at the clock then, to avoid a further sink into misery.

She had just turned to head up the wooden stairwell when a familiar melody drifted past her ears. It was only faint, but she was nearly positive she knew where it would be coming from. As she walked down the corridor housing the fifth and sixth years single dorms, she became more and more convinced about the origin of the music. It was Beethoven's 'Moonlight Sonata': the same melancholic piece of piano that she had first heard Shizuma-sama play on the day they had really started their fledgling friendship. She was almost certain that if she stopped outside of Shizuma-sama's room she would hear the melody floating out from underneath the door.

Her stomach tightened a little in anticipation as she reached the wooden door she knew to be Shizuma-sama's, the little gold '_Étoile_' plaque glinting in the fading sunlight from its position mounted on the door front.

Nagisa took in a steadying breath and raised a hand, rapping lightly on the solid maple door. The music continued to float out from underneath the door, but she could hear no response to her knock. Gathering her resolve, she balled her hand into a fist and knocked a little more forcefully, this time with better results. The music suddenly got softer, and she heard a faint and muffled, 'come in' issue from the other side of the thick door.

Suddenly feeling inexplicably nervous, Nagisa slid her hand to the doorknob and turned it gently, pushing open the heavy door only enough to permit her body through. Only when the heavy door stopped swinging on its hinges did she look up.

The first thing that struck her was the surprising size of the room; it was about the same size as the double rooms on the second floor, but without the extra bed the room seemed positively cavernous. The bed was the next thing she noticed. The double rooms didn't have the room to fit large beds into them, so Nagisa had been forced to readjust to the king singles that came standard in the shared rooms. The fifth and sixth years obviously didn't have that problem as luxurious-looking double beds stretched from wall to window.

Envy coiled in her stomach as she thought rather morosely of her double bed back home – now packed up in storage somewhere.

Her gaze quickly flitted from the bed to the occupant of the room, sitting at her desk with her face turned towards the window. Her head rested lazily in her left palm, while the right drummed out what Nagisa assumed to be the right-hand part of the piano piece against the desk's surface. Fingers stretched out over imaginary keys, and small muscles in Shizuma's forearm relaxed and contracted lithely as the music progressed.

The dying sunlight cast a reddish haze through the windows, giving the objects in the room an almost ethereal glow, as it did with the room's owner. Shizuma's silver hair fell around her in careless waves, reflecting the golden light. Nagisa found it impossible not to draw parallels between the vision of the sparkling lake she had seen earlier and this. She stopped that thought in its tracks as blood began to rush to her cheeks; trying to convince herself that she was simply objectively marvelling at a display of visual beauty, not at the girl herself.

She tore her gaze away from the silver-haired girl and settled it on the present cradled in her hands. Wasn't part of the reason she'd decided to come here today to figure out her feelings for the older girl?

Denial had made it a little easier to interact with Shizuma-sama in the past, but now it was only causing her confusion and grief. Besides, Tamao-chan always said that it is better to understand what you're up against before you act, and now she was going to try to make sure Tamao-chan's wisdom didn't go to waste.

Her grip tightened on the present as she debated on the best way to alert the other girl to her presence. Somehow it didn't feel right watching Shizuma-sama while she was so absorbed in her music, but surely she must have heard her come in? She opened her mouth to offer a greeting, but was beaten by the honeyed voice of her companion.

"You're early, Miyuki."

Shizuma's hand stopped motion on the desk and she swivelled around in her chair.

"I thought you—" she exclaimed, as she caught sight of her visitor for the first time. "Nagisa-chan?"

Nagisa bowed deeply, hiding behind the screen of her hair as she fought to compose herself; so far this meeting wasn't exactly going to plan.

"I'm sorry, I should have announced myself properly… I didn't mean—"

"It's fine," Shizuma interjected, waving off Nagisa's attempts at an apology. "Come in and have a seat," she said, indicating the bed opposite her.

Nagisa nodded uncertainly but closed the door behind her anyway, feeling her heart rate pick up a little when she heard the telltale 'snick' of the lock catching. The finality of that sound made her nervous for reasons beyond her understanding. Maybe she was just a little too on-edge today. Or maybe it was just the company... Yeah, it was definitely the company.

Now that she was fully inside, Nagisa was able to take in all of Shizuma-sama's room. It was everything she had expected it to be: simple but elegant. The neat shelves were dotted with the occasional framed photograph and small plants, giving the room personality. The only thing that looked out of place was the desk Shizuma was currently seated in front of.

Contrasted with the rest of the tidy room, the desk was rather messy, with open textbooks, notepads and pens lining the flat surface. Sitting on one of the shelves in the hutch, a small hi-fi system continued to issue the mellow notes of a new piano sonata. Just to the left of the desk, a small wastepaper basket was overflowing with screwed up paper and broken pens, and Nagisa felt herself smiling — it seemed even the much-admired Etoile-sama had her faults. One of which seemed to be a bit of a lazy streak.

"Your room is very nice Etoile-sama," she said finally, as she made her way across the room.

"Shizuma," the taller girl corrected.

Nagisa paused in her tracks. "Eh?"

"Call me Shizuma. I think we've known one another long enough for you to not address me by title."

Nagisa flushed, partly from pleasure, partly from embarrassment, but nodded her assent anyway. When she finally reached the desk, the taller girl stood, and Nagisa fidgeted with the present in her hands.

"Uh Shizuma-sama…" she started as she came to stand before the girl. "I just wanted to thank you for everything you did to prepare me for the French exam," she said, lifting the package gently towards the silver-haired girl.

Shizuma glanced down at Nagisa's hands, and then back up to smile at the shorter girl. "Is that for me?" she asked softly, causing a heavy weight to settle in Nagisa's stomach.

With those words, her mind was cast back to her dream of a few nights ago. Well, they were in a different location, at a different time and with a different set of results, but her mind didn't seem to care about such insignificant details, and injected another sizable dose of adrenaline into her bloodstream.

"Mmm," she managed to reply, buying some time to get her voice under control. "I don't know if you'll like it, but I couldn't think of what else to get you to show how grateful I am."

Shizuma took the item from Nagisa's hands.

"Thank you, but you really didn't have to," she said, setting the package down on the desk next to her. "Do you mind if I open it now?"

Nagisa looked a bit startled, but nodded, clasping her now empty hands together in front of her to stop them from fidgeting.

She had secretly hoped that the silver-haired girl would wait until she was gone to open the gift, so she wouldn't have to sit through this horrible ordeal. There was nothing worse than watching someone unwrap a present you thought they might dislike. Especially when you had put so much effort into choosing it.

Shizuma turned to the desk and began carefully unwrapping the present, taking care to carefully untie ribbons and undo tape rather than ripping into the glossy white paper.

It was only then, that Nagisa noticed that the elegant girl was without her famous grey shawl, leaving her upper arms mostly bare. Nagisa ran her eyes over them, watching as toned, lithe muscles danced under her skin as the older girl wrestled with the tightly bound package. It was no surprise really: Shizuma had no trouble keeping her from running away during their encounters, nor had she appeared particularly stressed when Nagisa had – oh so embarrassingly – collapsed into her arms months earlier.

She sighed mentally as that memory replayed itself in her head. _I'm such an idiot_, she thought morosely.

Shizuma turned to face her, and Nagisa jumped a little – snatching her eyes back from their resting place on the silver-haired girl's arms. Shizuma smiled indulgently as she addressed Nagisa, occasionally darting her eyes back to the present when she hit some resistance.

"So, are you going to tell me how you went?"

Nagisa blinked. "Huh?"

"Exams," Shizuma said simply.

Nagisa frowned. Hadn't she already mentioned that? After a quick search of her memory told her otherwise, she turned back to Shizuma, a pleased smile working its way onto her face.

"Oh, I passed!" she said jubilantly. "I got a 'C', but at least I won't have to take summer classes now."

Shizuma's hands paused on the present as Nagisa relayed her news, a smile creeping onto her face.

"A 'C'? That's very good. To be honest I didn't think you could do that well considering the situation," she said. "You should be very proud."

Nagisa couldn't stop the flush of pleasure that decorated her cheeks this time.

"Well, I couldn't have done it without your help," she said humbly. "If anything, it's a reflection on how good a teacher you are, Shizuma-sama. If you can get even me to pass..."

Shizuma didn't seem to appreciate that comment, frowning a little as she drew her hands back from the present and rested them on either side of the desk.

"Don't demean yourself," she said firmly, and Nagisa looked up in surprise. The taller girl held her gaze unflinchingly. "I spoke with Suzumi-san about your study habits before the exams. She told me how hard you were working." Her gaze softened. "If I'd known that earlier I would have made you slow down. You could have made yourself sick working like that."

Nagisa smiled and felt some of her apprehension sliding away; Shizuma-sama wasn't nearly as intimidating as she sometimes appeared. Well, she was, but that couldn't be helped really. It was hard not to feel unsettled around such an influential person.

"I was fine—I know my limits," she said simply, shifting her weight onto one hip. "I just hope I didn't disrupt your preparation."

"For exams?" Shizuma asked, turning her attention back to the present.

Nagisa nodded.

"Not at all. I even managed to keep Miyuki from topping all of our classes," Shizuma said with a slight smirk. "She hasn't yet managed to beat me in French, although I do have the unfair advantage," she conceded as she struggled with a particularly stubborn knot.

"How so?" Nagisa asked as she shifted her weight to the opposite hip.

Shizuma raised an eyebrow. "My parents moved us to France when I was little, and my Nanny was French – so I just picked it up from being around her. I'm told I was bilingual when I was younger, but that seems to have diminished a bit over the years—" She tugged a little more on the ribbon. "You really wrapped this tightly, didn't you?"

Nagisa took a moment to let that information sink in as she watched Shizuma search for something on her desk. "I'm sorry Nagisa-chan, but I'm going to have to cut this, otherwise we might be here all night."

Vaguely Nagisa felt herself nodding her approval, but her mind was elsewhere. Shizuma-sama was bilingual? Or had been at some point? She didn't know why, but she somehow got the feeling that the silver-haired girl didn't like sitting still for too long, and had always wondered how the notoriously flighty Etoile had managed to keep top of her class in the difficult subject. So that was it...

She dragged her attention back to the girl in front of her as she cut the final restraining piece of ribbon. That apprehensive feeling in her gut made itself known once more as the final piece of paper was pulled away from the present. Nagisa's gaze flicked up to the older girl's — studying her face for any sign of displeasure, but she found nothing other than pleasant surprise on her flawless features.

"This…" Shizuma started, her eyes darting up to catch Nagisa's own, "...looks delicious. Where did you get it from?" she asked as she rifled through various packages now lying exposed on the desk.

Nagisa breathed a sigh of relief, and felt her shoulders loosen up as the tension bled away from them. _At least she doesn't hate my present,_ she thought happily. She took a step forward so that she could get a better look at the contents of the gift, bringing herself almost alongside her taller companion.

"Have you been to that little delicatessen along the coast?" she asked. "It's about halfway down and is tucked away behind a boutique?" Shizuma shook her head and Nagisa continued to explain. "They specialise in importing gourmet teas from all over the world. I'd never gone in there before, but I'd heard some of my parent's colleagues talking about it. I thought you might enjoy something like this," she finished a little uncertainly.

Shizuma smiled as she read some of the labels on the packets of loose tealeaves.

"These look delicious…" Shizuma paused as her fingers grazed across something hard. "Is that…" she said, lifting up a different coloured bag. "...Belgian chocolate? Did you get this from the same place?"

Nagisa smiled and nodded, ignoring Yaya-chan's voice twittering in the back of her head.

When she had opened up her bag to show the younger girl her purchases a few days ago, Yaya had immediately started laughing. "_You got her chocolate?"_ she had asked incredulously. When Nagisa had indignantly demanded what was wrong with that, the taller girl had shook her head and swiped at her watery eyes. "_You may as well have got her lingerie…" _When she saw Nagisa's perplexed expression, she added: "_You know chocolate's an aphrodisiac, right?"_

She felt heat rising to her cheeks despite herself, and wrote a mental note to kill Yaya-chan next time she saw her.

Not long after she discovered that Shizuma was glancing at her strangely.

_Probably trying to figure out why you blushed at a perfectly normal question,_ she thought to herself. She tried to will the blush away, but the more she tried, the more conscious she became of the other girl's eyes on her, and how close she was standing to Shizuma, and the fact that she could pick up the faint smell of lilac drifting from the silver-haired girl when she moved— all of which seemed to fuel her desire to flush.

"Would you stay and help me trial one of these?" Shizuma's voice interrupted, as she held up one of the sachets of tea leaves.

Nagisa smiled and nodded, hiding her pleasure at being asked to spend some more time with the school's idol. Actually that wasn't quite correct; she didn't want to spend more time with the school's idol, she wanted to spend more time with Shizuma-sama. She found herself wanting to know more about the girl that many people had heard rumours about, but who few people actually knew.

"Why don't you pick one out and meet me in the kitchen? I'll go put some water on," she said as she brushed past Nagisa.

Nagisa stood there a little dumbfounded. _Kitchen!?_ She turned and watched as Shizuma opened and disappeared into a door on one side of the room. On the other lay a door almost completely identical to it. At least she knew what that one was for.

Pushing her questions aside for the moment, she carefully went through the hamper, searching for a tea she thought Shizuma-sama might enjoy. When her eyes finally landed on a small package of reddish leaves she smiled and grabbed it, walking to the door Shizuma had disappeared through. When she opened it, she found the silver-haired girl standing by a small bench, electric kettle humming softly as it started to heat up the water within.

The room was rather simple, but it was not the grandeur of the area that left her in awe, it was the simple fact that Shizuma-sama had her very own kitchen in her room. Well, kitchenette really, as there were no gas-powered cooking appliances. But then, that didn't really matter. The kitchenette had a small sink, microwave, bar fridge and a breakfast table that seated two; it was all anyone really needed for staying in the catered dorms.

Realising that she's been gaping, Nagisa shut her mouth and returned her gaze to the other occupant of the room.

"Do all fifth and sixth years have their own kitchens?" she asked in wonder.

Shizuma turned and leaned back on the bench, letting her arms rest on the edges, one on either side of her hips. She shook her head lightly.

"No, unfortunately. This is one of the perks of being Etoile," she said with a sigh. "And it's not my own; I share it with Miyuki," she said, nodding at the door on the opposite end of the room. "That door leads to her room." She paused, as she let Nagisa absorb that information. "Did you pick a tea for us to try?"

Nagisa looked at the small pack enclosed in her hand and nodded, slowly walking over to where Shizuma was resting.

"I think so. This is 'Rooibos Wild Cherry' tea," she said stumbling over the unfamiliar foreign word. The storeowner had pronounced it something like _Roy-boss,_ but it still slid rather awkwardly off her tongue. "It's a tea from South Africa… have you ever tried it?" she asked, offering the small pack to the taller girl.

Shizuma studied the label, and then the leafy mixture inside. "No," she said finally, placing the packet down on the bench. "I'm looking forward to it though, it'll be interesting to see if you have better taste in tea than Miyuki."

Despite the nature of the remark, Nagisa could hear the warmth in the other girl's tone.

"You're really close aren't you?"

Shizuma turned her head and smiled indulgently.

"To Miyuki?"

Nagisa nodded.

"We shared the same room for four years and now we're in neighbouring rooms; I don't know what I would have done without her here," she said candidly.

Nagisa smiled. Shizuma-sama's words about Rokujou-san reminded her very much of her own feelings for Tamao-chan. It was impossible to imagine life at the Strawberry Dorms without her blue-haired roommate with her.

"So, I'm guessing you and Rokujou-san will share a room at Summer School, then?"

A dark expression crossed Shizuma's face, and Nagisa worried that she'd said something wrong.

"Shizuma-sama?"

The silver-haired girl met Nagisa's gaze and smiled back, although it didn't quite reach her eyes. "No. Neither of us are going to Summer School. There is a lot of work that needs to be done before summer break that the Etoile must have completed, so Miyuki and I are staying here until it's done."

In the background, Nagisa vaguely heard the kettle make a clicking sound, signalling that the water was boiled, but she pushed that to the back of her mind. She was still getting over the shock of hearing Shizuma-sama say that she was not going to be attending the one event Nagisa has been looking forward to most during summer.

It almost made her feel guilty about going…

"The water's boiled," Shizuma said, and Nagisa couldn't help but feel as though her voice had become a little flat. "Could you come and give me a hand preparing this?"

Nagisa nodded and placed herself next to Shizuma in front of the bench, watching as the older girl stretched to get a small teapot from one of the cupboards above her head. It was remarkable how even something as mundane as getting a teapot out of a cupboard could look so graceful when completed by the older girl.

If she had to describe her movements at that time, she would liken them to a dancer's – lean, long and elegant. If Nagisa herself had attempted the same action, she was sure that she'd either drop both teacups and pot, or overbalance and smash face-first into the cabinets. It'd be a great way to make a good impression.

Soon Shizuma's head emerged from behind the cabinet door and she was passing down a small Japanese-style teapot and two European cups. Nagisa made sure to concentrate hard as she transferred the items from Shizuma's hands to a clear space of bench near the kettle. She heard the soft 'thump' of the cabinet door closing, and felt, more than saw, Shizuma walk around her back to her other side. That familiar scent of lilacs washed over her again as Shizuma walked by, Nagisa's shoulder lightly brushing Shizuma's arm when the older girl finally stopped moving.

The carelessness of the contact surprised her more than anything. Shizuma-sama obviously didn't seem to think anything of it, but it was driving her to distraction. It was as though her shoulder had suddenly sprouted thousands of extra receptors all sensitive to light touch, and all of them were screaming '_She's touching you'_ along her nerves.

Shizuma continued busying herself setting out the crockery, only pausing briefly to ask Nagisa to open the tea. She somehow managed to stutter out a '_Sure'_ and fumbled with the tape on the back of the sachet, getting increasingly frustrated with her jumpiness with each passing second. _So Yaya-chan said that a girl can feel nervous around another girl that she respects without being attracted to her, right? So, I admire Shizuma-sama, and now I'm nervous; so I might have a bit of a crush on her._

Her fingernail caught the edge of the tape, and she triumphantly flicked it up, winning her battle against the stubborn plastic sachet. She deftly unfurled the excess layers of plastic and opened the top of the pack, revelling in the sweet scent that drifted up from the open packet. She sighed blissfully and closed her eyes as she inhaled the floral aroma from the now-opened top. If this tea tasted as good as it smelt, then they were in for a magnificent treat.

She felt Shizuma turn before she actually saw it, the skin on her shoulder re-awakening at the gentle pressure provided by Shizuma's body. There was a slight rustle of fabric, and Nagisa felt a warm hand gently grasp the wrist holding the sachet. Her eyes snapped open, and she saw Shizuma-sama smiling gently as she guided Nagisa's wrist and the sachet towards her face.

"Surely it can't be that good," the taller girl said jokingly, as she misinterpreted Nagisa's dumbstruck expression.

Nagisa was having trouble trying to deal with all the sensations assaulting her: the warm pressure of the silver-haired girl's hand around her arm; the excruciating closeness of their bodies and that pleasing floral scent drifting by her nose occasionally. Unbidden, she felt her heart-rate speed up again, steadily increasing in pace as her hand drew closer and closer to the girl's face. Her breathing hitched when she first felt the girl's breath on the sensitive skin of her wrist, and was sure that when Shizuma finally removed her hand from around her arm, she would be left with a burnt imprint in the shape of fingers.

Her nervous system had quite simply been set of fire; her body suddenly ultra-conscious of every single point of contact between her and the silver-haired girl before her.

_Okay, so I don't think this comes under the heading of 'girl-crush',_ Nagisa thought as Shizuma dipped her head to smell the contents of the sachet, causing silver hair to fall around her face. She absently brushed it back with her free hand, but a few tendrils escaped, and danced across the sensitive skin on the inside of Nagisa's arm. Nagisa shivered at the feeling of it, idly wondering what that hair would feel like against her neck – whether her mind had painted an accurate picture of the sensation in her dreamworld.

Either Shizuma didn't notice the small tremor that had coursed through her arm, or chose not to mention it – Nagisa wasn't quite sure which.

Without meaning to, she found herself watching the silver-haired girl in fascination as she inhaled the scent of the tea, closing her eyes in rapture as she did. Nagisa trailed her eyes down Shizuma's face: from those thick dark lashes; over delicate high cheekbones; down the smooth, flawless cheeks to rest on lips that were pulled into a relaxed smile.

She had experienced the touch of those lips only once, despite their multiple encounters. _The first day I met her_, she mused as she thought back on it. Of course, shortly after she had fainted into the other girl's arms.

She wondered what she would have done if Shizuma-sama had tried to kiss her properly. The incident in the dining hall, the library, in front of Chihaya and the others in the dorm hall… all those incidents had been interrupted by something or another, so she wasn't quite sure how she would actually react. How _would_ she react?

She vaguely noticed that those lips were now moving, changing shape as they formed words, and she reluctantly drew her eyes up to catch Shizuma's own.

"I stand corrected," the older girl said with some amusement as she lifted her head from the packet, but paused when she caught the serious look on Nagisa's face. Her eyebrows rose a little, and her eyes searched Nagisa's face, trying to decipher the inscrutable look the shorter girl was giving her.

Nagisa couldn't force her body to pull away. This wasn't like those times when Shizuma-sama had forced herself on her. Then she had been paralysed by shock, now she was being held there by something completely different. Something that burned deep in her abdomen, sending her into a heady lust-filled daze.

The silver-haired girl was still gazing curiously at her, her hand still gripping Nagisa's wrist gently – doing absolutely nothing to ease the burning sensations coursing underneath Nagisa's skin. Her gaze flicked briefly back down to Shizuma's lips, and she swallowed nervously, seeing comprehension dawn on the older girl's face.

Nagisa took in a shaky breath as Shizuma half-turned her body to face her, making sure to keep her eyes locked on the shorter girl's. Other than that small action, the tall, silver-haired girl remained relatively motionless, observing the girl in front of her carefully.

Almost unable to help herself, Nagisa let her eyes flick a few times between Shizuma's eyes and lips as she closed the distance between them. On instinct her tongue darted out to wet slightly parted lips as she pushed up onto her toes, bringing her free hand up to lightly grip the taller girl by the upper arm. Fortunately for her, Shizuma had been leaning over, so there wasn't too much of a height difference to overcome.

She hesitated briefly when her nose came within centimetres of Shizuma's own, feeling the other girl's warm breath puff against her lips; resuming her motion forward only when felt Shizuma tighten her grip around her wrist and tug gently.

She locked eyes with Shizuma one final time before flicking them back to her lips and tilting her head marginally, watching through half-lidded eyes as Shizuma mirrored her. Time seemed to pass with agonising slowness as they closed the last few centimetres between their lips, Nagisa letting her eyes fall shut as her lips brushed Shizuma's own in the lightest of touches. Her stomach twisted and her nerve endings set alight at the contact. Even though it was only a chaste kiss – nothing more than a gentle brush of the lips – Nagisa could feel her body respond, thrumming with pent-up energy as she drew back from their first kiss.

Surely she wasn't the only one to have felt that?

Nagisa's eyes opened and she was met with Shizuma's golden eyes gazing directly into her own; her breaths coming short and fast against Nagisa's cheek. That searing look ended any doubts she'd had about continuing on, and she quickly moved to deepen the kiss, starting to slide her hand up Shizuma's arm so that she could splay it against the back of the taller girl's neck. Shizuma obviously had similar intentions, as she moved to wrap her free arm around Nagisa's waist in order to close the unbearable distance between bodies and lips.

The sound of a door opening stopped them both in their tracks.

Nagisa had the misfortune of having her back facing the door, so she couldn't see the cause of the interruption, but she did see Shizuma whip her head up towards the noise, and felt her blood freeze in her veins when the silver-haired girl addressed the intruder with a soft, "_Miyuki"._

As though that word were a catalyst for movement, Nagisa found herself springing away from the taller girl, feeling almost ready to die of mortification. Of all the people in the world, why did it have to be the Student Council president? Hadn't she embarrassed herself in front of Rokujou-san enough for one lifetime?

"Rokujou-san!" she exclaimed, bowing deeply to the blue-haired girl. When she straightened up, she took a quick glance at the older girl, noting the look of surprise imprinted on her face.

"Nagisa-san?" she questioned, incredulity lacing her tones.

Nagisa averted her gaze from Miyuki's, suddenly unable to look the older girl in the face. She knew she should really say something, but for the life of her she couldn't think what. What are you supposed to say when you're caught kissing someone's childhood friend in the middle of their kitchen? She was pretty sure that '_It's not what it look like'_ wouldn't work in this situation. Saying it would only sound patronising, and would probably only make things worse.

Uncomfortable silence stretched for a few agonising seconds and Nagisa fidgeted where she stood, silently wishing that the ground would open up and swallow her whole. One glance at Shizuma showed the girl to be completely unaffected by Miyuki's sudden appearance.

"What did you want, Miyuki?"

Nagisa had to give credit to Rokujou-san; she had managed to compose herself very quickly, wiping her face free of surprise when she turned back to answer Shizuma.

"I told you earlier this morning that I was going to stop by to discuss something with you." She glanced significantly at Nagisa. "But I guess you forgot."

Nagisa said a silent prayer of thanks when she heard what Miyuki had said – as it provided her with the perfect excuse to flee.

"I'm sorry, I was interrupting something. I'll leave you both to it then," she said, bowing deeply once more to Miyuki before rounding on Shizuma. She caught the girl's golden eyes and felt her face burn in embarrassment.

"Thank you for the offer of tea, Shizuma-sama, but I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck." She bowed. "If you'll excuse me."

She turned on her heel and ran for the door leading back to Shizuma's room, ignoring the silver-haired girl's cry of "_Nagisa!_" as she disappeared through it.

She didn't stop running until she reached the dorm courtyard, completely out of breath. She dropped her hands to her knees and leaned over as she sucked in the cool dusk air, mind racing as she fought to catch her breath. When she'd finally stopped gasping for air, she shook her head in disbelief as she reflected on the events of the past half an hour.

_What did I just do?_


	5. Chapter V

**Disclaimer:**I own it, which is obviously why I am writing fan fiction instead of producing another season. Seriously, I don't own it and never will. I'm merely borrowing the characters and answering to the muses in my head. So we have one more chapter before things start to heat up, sorry if it seems a little slow, but we have some issues to cover before we get into the heart of the story. Feedback is always appreciated.

**EPIPHANY – Chapter V**

------------------------------  
_Why don't you let me be;  
Leave me alone.  
You start a fire inside,  
That I could never control.  
You wanna see a reaction?_  
------------------------------

The sun's dying rays cast an eerie glow through the Strawberry Dorm's windows as Miyuki made her way back from the Student Council rooms. She glanced down at the pile of paperwork in her hands and let out a frustrated sigh. It wouldn't be long now until she could hand over the title of 'Student Council president' and its accompanying mountains of paperwork, which filled her with both relief and a little despair.

Despite what she'd frequently told Shizuma, she had not joined the council just to help her friend in her bid for the position of Etoile. While an important reason in itself, her primary incentive had been much less altruistic. Unlike her flirtatious roommate, Miyuki had always had trouble with self-assurance and confidence. She had hoped that by joining the council, and being thrust into difficult and sometimes confronting situations she would develop thicker skin, and be able to rise to confront problems head-on rather than backing away. It had worked to an extent, but there were always exceptions to the rule. Or more like one _silver-haired _exception to the rule…

She nodded a greeting to a group of young Miator girls who promptly moved to the hallway wall and bowed low in respect, uttering timid '_Rokujou-sama's_ as she passed.

She had worked hard in the Student Council, and as such was afforded a measure of respect, but as soon as she left the school she would lose all of that. Her autonomy, her self-respect and her personal goals would be discarded as soon as she took those first few steps outside Astrea's gates as a high school graduate.

As she approached her door she heard the soft tones of piano music issuing from the neighbouring room and let a small smile grace her lips. It was a rare occurrence indeed to actually be able to find Shizuma when she was needed, especially in such a mundane place as her bedroom.

Miyuki shifted the papers to one arm and balanced them against her hip, using the now free hand to dig around in her pocket. It was a perilous action, as some of the free sheets started slipping from the pile. She tightened her grip, and prayed that the pile would stay together for a few more seconds. _What would it look like to have the Student Council president scrabbling around on the floor like a clumsy first-year? _

A soft jingling of keys reached her ears as her hand closed around cool metal. After a few seconds of fumbling to find the right key, she inserted it into the lock and turned, quickly stuffing them back into her pocket to give her fatigued left arm a reprieve from the weight of the document pile. After closing the door gently with her foot, she set the papers down on her desk and shook out her lightly burning arms. One quick look at the mountain of papers on her desk sent her mood tumbling southward. She still had to find time to look over them, make alterations, rustle a signature or two out of Shizuma, study for an upcoming physics test and find the time to counsel aforementioned ex-roommate.

Well, at least two of the items on that list could be performed simultaneously, however much Shizuma would dislike her for it, she could always bring her paperwork around over a pot of tea. Although, considering how much she had demanded of the other girl already, maybe she'd only take half in…

The muffled sound of a cupboard opening and closing caught her attention, and she looked towards the closed door leading to the kitchen._Perfect timing, _she thought and turned to sort quickly through the small mountain of paperwork. _If I select only the ones that need immediate attention, I can leave the rest until later. _

When she had finally selected a dozen of the most important documents to be counter-signed, she strode towards the door backing onto Shizuma's left wall. Shizuma would have already been visited by Nagisa-san, of that Miyuki was certain. From what she had observed of the younger girl, it was clear that, at the very least, Nagisa-san held a certain measure of respect for Shizuma, so she would want to thank her promptly. In a way, Nagisa-san's continued friendship with Shizuma was a little surprising considering her friend's blatant exploitation of the younger girl. It was really a miracle that she hadn't gone running to a teacher the minute she'd left the dining hall on that first night.

Then again, Suzumi-san had probably informed the young redhead about the implicit indemnities Shizuma was afforded at school. There were very few who didn't know about her friend's loss at the end of last year, and because of that, there seemed to exist an unspoken pact to let the silver-haired Etoile off the hook for her many misdemeanours. It was both touching and troubling, as it always seemed to leave Miyuki in the role of 'bad-guy'.

Her hand closed around the cool brass handle leading to the kitchen and she pushed the door open, quickly feeling her stomach sink when she observed the scene before her.

Standing by the bench in their shared kitchen stood her best friend, entwined around the much smaller frame of one Aoi Nagisa. Miyuki had the briefest of seconds to notice Shizuma's hand gripping the other girl's wrist and the other splayed against her back before Shizuma's head whipped up and golden eyes caught her own.

"Miyuki."

With that single word, Nagisa pushed away from Shizuma forcefully, back-pedalling to put some distance between them.

"Rokujou-san!"

Hiding under a curtain of hair, Nagisa bowed quickly to Miyuki, her ears burning an intense red. As she straightened up, she nervously lifted her eyes to Miyuki's face.

"Nagisa-san?" Miyuki replied slowly, confusion working its way into her voice. She stared unseeing at the younger girl for a few seconds, and Nagisa averted eyes in discomfort.

Awkward silence filled the room as Miyuki glanced from one girl to the other. The younger of the two looked ready to die of embarrassment; her hands fidgeting with something held tightly in her hands, cheeks flaring red and eyes flicking to the door behind her in hopeless longing. It was clear that she would rather be anywhere else but in this room, presumably also far away from her lecherous ex-roommate.

She felt the first stirrings of anger bubble in the pit of her stomach as she flicked her eyes to her silver-haired friend. Shizuma looked calm – infuriatingly calm.

"What did you want, Miyuki?" she asked evenly.

Miyuki's grip tightened on the paperwork in her hands. That nonchalance would probably work on anyone else but her; she had been around Shizuma far too long to fall for this particular act. Her anger flared but she managed to keep it bottled; there was little point in distressing Nagisa-san any further than she already obviously was.

"I told you earlier this morning that I was going to stop by to discuss something with you." She flicked her eyes to Nagisa briefly, before returning them to Shizuma's own. "But I guess you forgot."

A sharp intake of breath caught her attention, followed by a nervous clearing of a throat.

"I'm sorry, I was interrupting something. I'll leave you both to it then."

If it were a different situation, Miyuki might have laughed at the irony of it all. She opened her mouth to wave the younger girl off, but was interrupted as Nagisa turned to face her best friend. She could only see half of the shorter girl's face, but the half she could see was bathed in a reddish hue.

"Thank you for the offer of tea, Shizuma-sama. But I'm afraid I'll have to take a raincheck." She bowed deeply and straightened up. This time she didn't meet Shizuma's eyes. "If you'll excuse me."

With those four words, Nagisa turned on her heel and all but ran out of the door leading back into Shizuma's room. Her best friend turned and followed Nagisa's progress with her body, calling out the younger girl's name as she disappeared through the door. The lack of an honorific hit Miyuki like a slap in the face, and she felt her steely control over her emotions start to slip.

"Shizuma…" she began when she heard the muffled sound of the bedroom door swinging shut.

Shizuma turned back to her and crossed her arms over her chest, leaning lightly against the kitchen bench.

"Mmm?"

"What was that?"

Shizuma raised a slender eyebrow, her face a mask of unflappable calm.

"That was Nagisa-chan leaving after thanking me for my help, just as you'd predicted she would."

Miyuki ground her teeth to bite back the caustic remark that was threatening to escape her lips.

"While vaguely interested in that, it's not exactly what I was referring to."

Shizuma's eyebrows lowered and something dangerous flashed in her eyes.

"Then what were you 'referring to'?"

There was a hard edge to her voice that Miyuki recognised instantly. It was Shizuma's '_drop it or we're going to have a problem' _voice. It was at this stage in the conversation where she would back down, avert her eyes and change the subject, all to keep up the façade that held their friendship together. But not this time, not now.

"To what was happening when I walked in," she supplied finally, dropping the reams of paper angrily onto the small dining table. She turned back to her best friend and mirrored the silver-haired girl's pose, crossing her arms firmly across her chest. The boundary was crossed, the fate of their relationship now rest firmly in Shizuma's hands.

"What did you think was happening?" the Shizuma asked, golden eyes glinting in the fading sunlight.

"Don't answer a question with a question," Miyuki snapped, and Shizuma's eyes widened in surprise.

_Score one for me, _she thought humourlessly as she continued to stare demandingly into her friend's eyes. She would get an explanation out of Shizuma today if it killed her…

…_Or your friendship, _her mind supplied cruelly.

Shizuma continued to stare back wordlessly, but after only a few scant seconds of silence, Miyuki began to feel uncomfortable. Her gaze slid from Shizuma's eyes settling somewhere over her friend's shoulder and she cursed herself inwardly for her weakness.

Despite all the improvements in her self-confidence, she was still unable to hold eye contact with Shizuma at times like this. There was just something so intense in the silver-haired girl's eyes that made her feel like a timid first-year again. She felt some of her anger bleed out, and with it, rational thought returned. If she continued on this path she ran a huge risk of pushing Shizuma further into the emotional black hole she had formed around herself.

Was the risk really worth it?

"You've got to stop doing this, Shizuma," she said finally, ignoring the voice in her head screaming at her to stop. "The younger students look up to you for guidance, and every time you do something like this you are betraying their trust and mine."

Shizuma's eyebrows rose. "Your trust?"

"Yes, Shizuma, _my _trust." She paused, studying the other girl's face. "You really didn't give a single thought as to how your behaviour would affect me, did you?"

"Jealous?" Shizuma queried with a smirk.

"Don't be facetious! I was talking about how much pressure your playing around puts on me as Student Council president." She took a steadying breath, preparing herself for what she was about to say. "Putting our issues aside, do you ever stop to think how some of these girls feel when you play around with them and then discard them like trash? I can assure you that they're not as apathetic about it as you are. They are genuinely hurt when you stop paying them attention."

She knew she had just crossed another boundary, but it was far too late to back out now.

"I don't think that's really any of your business," Shizuma said tersely, turning her back on Miyuki and reaching for a jar of loose tea leaves.

"It is my business," Miyuki interjected as approached the end of the kitchen bench, "because you're my friend." She paused as she reigned in her emotions. "But I am also responsible for the well-being of the student body. So your actions bother me doubly."

Shizuma paused in the middle of filling the teapot to briefly glance back at her, after a few seconds she returned her attention to the teapot in front of her.

"You shouldn't worry so much, I'm fine," she said, lifting the small teapot and taking it over to the table. Shifting a few pieces of paper back into a messy pile, she placed it carefully in the middle of the table. "Could you get the cups, Miyuki?"

It was obvious what Shizuma was trying to do, but Miyuki complied nonetheless, bringing back two small cups and setting them down in front of a now seated Shizuma.

"You can change the subject all you want, but I'm not going to drop it," she said, returning to her seat and Shizuma offered her a small half-smile for her tenacity. "In all seriousness, what are you doing with Nagisa-san? For a moment there I almost thought…" she trailed, not quite strong enough to broach that subject just yet. "Never mind. In any case, I thought you'd stopped harassing her a few months back," she said, noticing Shizuma frown at her choice of words.

"Why are you so certain I was the one who initiated that?" she asked, an indescribable expression crossing her features.

Miyuki glanced back in wry disbelief.

"Pattern recognition, Shizuma."

Shizuma said nothing as she poured out two cups of a fragrant green tea, and Miyuki was hit by a realisation.

"Wait, are you telling me that Nagisa-san—"

"I'm telling you nothing of the sort," Shizuma interrupted calmly as she slid Miyuki's cup across the table.

Miyuki accepted the beverage, but continued to study her best friend silently. Shizuma was shutting her out again, but for the life of her she couldn't figure out why. If Nagisa-san had _indeed_been the initiator of that little display, then wouldn't it serve as good rebuttal material for her best friend?

She closed her eyes and took a sip of her tea, hoping that the warm liquid would alleviate the slightly uneasy feeling gnawing at her stomach. It didn't, but it did help bleed away some of the tension that was constricting like a vice around her head. She brought a hand up to idly massage the spot in between her eyebrows; if she wasn't careful she'd end up craving paracetamol and her bed very soon.

Shizuma, noting the small action, broke the tranquil silence.

"Headache?"

It may have been wishful thinking, but Miyuki thought she could almost hear concern in her friend's voice.

"Not quite, there's one looming though," she muttered, dropping her hand back to the teacup.

Shizuma glanced at her over her cup. "It's because you're doing far too much, Miyuki."

Miyuki shot her an irritated glare. "That might be because someone I know is doing far too _little_." She meant it to sound spiteful, but it didn't come out with quite the force she intended, and Shizuma shot her a small half-smile for the effort.

"I'm sure you didn't intend on doing these yourself, though," she said, nodding to the messy pile stacked precariously just off centre of the table.

Miyuki smiled despite herself, glad that their relationship still appeared intact. Battered as always, but mostly intact.

"You'd guess correctly. I just need you to look over some of these and countersign some others. If we work quickly enough they should be done before dinner." She set her cup on its saucer and held a pen out to Shizuma. "What do you say, Etoile-sama? Do you think you can spare me a few autographs?"

It was a cheap tactic, she knew. But after the interrogation she'd put Shizuma through she had to try to smooth things over, because the alternative… was a little more than she could handle.

Shizuma graced Miyuki with a look of mock annoyance as her hand closed around the pen.

"If I must," she sighed, uncapping the pen lid. "Which ones do I need to do?"

Miyuki slid a bundle of papers over to her.

"All of these. When you're done with them, put them in a pile for me to look over."

Shizuma sighed and flipped over the first page, quickly scanning through the pages. Miyuki settled herself down in her own seat and began the laborious process, her concentration only broken by the sounds of pages being flipped, cups being lowered and raised to mouths and signatures being hastily scribbled on blank sheets. She couldn't help but feel somewhat contented, sitting there at the table, slowly trudging through page after page of proposals and meeting minutes. It had been the most forceful she had been with Shizuma about her personal 'relationships', yet the silver-haired girl was still on speaking terms with her. Their rocky relationship still had a few breaths left in it, and while there was still a lot that needed to be said, there was little point in trying to force the issue too much… at this stage anyway.

"Shizuma?"

"Hmm?" The silver-haired girl muttered, still engrossed in whatever she was reading.

"Don't do anything stupid."

Shizuma stopped mid sentence and lifted her eyes from the document she held. She stared wordlessly at Miyuki for a few seconds before returning her gaze to the printed sheet. There was no agreement, no refusal, just a simple gesture to let Miyuki know her quiet words had been heard. What Shizuma would make of her request, Miyuki didn't know. She just didn't know.

------------------------------

Yaya pulled the door closed behind her as she, her roommate and their pink-haired companion left their Miator friend's celebratory get-together. Well, left Tamao-san's celebratory get together, as Nagisa-san had run off much earlier to meet up with Etoile-sama. Yaya couldn't help but grin at the thought. What she wouldn't give to be a fly on the wall when the great 'giving of the gift' scenario was enacted. She could just imagine her poor friend now, all nervous and blushing…

"Well that was a relief, wasn't it? Nagisa-san passing?"

Yaya turned to look down at the short blonde girl walking leisurely on her left.

"It's a miracle that she managed to pass French, and by so much, too."

Yaya held back a smirk. "I think it has less to do with divine intervention and more to do with finding the right motivation."

Hikari looked at her quizzically. "You mean Summer School?"

Yaya grinned and turned her face to the ceiling. "Hmm, I wonder," she said cryptically.

A glance at Hikari from the corner of her eye showed the petite girl staring at her with a faint trace of exasperation.

"Yaya-chan! What do yo—"

Hikari was promptly cut off as Yaya slid an arm across her shoulders and ducked her head close to the shorter girl's ear.

"Never mind, Hikari. I was just teasing," she said, chuckling as her captive's ears flushed red and brows lowered in frustrated annoyance. When it became obvious that her roommate wasn't going to respond to any further jibes, she made to remove her arm from Hikari's shoulders, only pausing when she caught a pair of honey-coloured eyes studying her with displeasure.

On realising that she'd been caught, Tsubomi quickly averted her eyes to the floor, an embarrassed flush decorating the bridge of her nose. Yaya smirked deviously, and purposefully trained her stare on the younger girl, watching in amusement as Tsubomi's gaze flicked between floor and her own eyes self-consciously. It was really only a matter of time before the pink-haired girl exploded.

"W-What?" Tsubomi finally snapped, keeping her gaze locked firmly on Yaya's own.

_And there it is._

Yaya smirked and pulled Hikari a little closer, revelling in the dark expression that reclaimed Tsubomi's face.

"I have no idea what you're talking about," she said innocently.

Tsubomi rounded on her in a rage. "Don't lie, Yaya-senpai! You know exactly what you were doing! Why were you staring at me like that?"

"I could ask you the same thing," she retorted. "What was with that feral expression?"

Yaya heard Hikari utter a reproaching '_Yaya-chan' _very close to her ear, but she brushed it off, too absorbed in her verbal sparring to enjoy it. Her attention now was solely focused on the pink-haired girl in front of her, who currently looked as though she had swallowed a fork… sideways.

"Feral!? I was _not_ looking feral!"

Yaya smirked. "Were so! Next time I'll have to take a picture to show you, it was really quite remarkable. I didn't know the human face could even do that."

Tsubomi continued to glare at her murderously, an angry red flush spreading over both cheeks. After a moment she dragged her attention back from Yaya and stared directly down the corridor, seeming to concentrate only on putting one foot in front of the other as they began to make their way toward the Spica dorms.

Hikari nudged her gently in the ribs reprovingly.

"Yaya-chan!" she uttered – half plea, half reprimand. She risked a glance at Hikari, and found her will melting as she stared into those radiant blue eyes. Yaya sighed heavily. Despite having next to no physical authority, Hikari always seemed able to bend Yaya to her whims. It was cruel really; she got the emotional blackmail of a relationship without the actual relationship part.

Still, she found herself complying wordlessly – forcing down the multitude of nasty retorts that sprung to mind. _There'll always be more opportunities, _her mind reasoned as she glanced at her underclassman.

As they approached the double doors leading to the Spica, Yaya finally, and regretfully, extracted her arm from Hikari's shoulders, to heave open one of said doors open. Her arm protested at the action, and not for the first time, she cursed the age of the dormitories.

_Damn relic of a door._

She'd never really understood why they hadn't renovated the place. Some nice automatic doors, or even ones built after the 1900s, would be nice.

Once she had shimmied the thing far enough apart, she jammed a foot against the door, effectively holding it open for her two companions. Hikari looked at her gratefully, while Tsubomi forcibly avoided her gaze as she passed under the doorframe. She would probably continue to sulk for the rest of the day, or maybe she was just waiting for an opportunity to strike. Really either one was fine as long as Hikari was around. Yaya was sure that the pink-haired girl would try nothing particularly vile while in the presence of her crush.

_All the more reason to stay close to Hikari, _she reasoned happily.

Taking her foot away from the door, she eased herself through the doorway, and quickened her strides to keep up with her companions, once again making sure that Hikari acted as a buffer between her and her verbal punching bag. She didn't entirely put it past the girl to trip her as she was walking along.

Hikari glanced sympathetically at the younger girl.

"So, do you know who you're going to room with at Summer School, Tsubomi-chan? Your roommate?"

Tsubomi looked momentarily startled as Hikari addressed her, and Yaya fought back the urge to snicker at her discomfort.

"Huh? Uh, mmm." The pink-haired girl agreed, crossing her arms over her chest. "Miya-chan and I were put together just because we're roommates. We're not actually the best of friends, though."

Hikari's smile faltered a little. "I see," she muttered uncomfortably. "Well, it's not like you'll have to spend all your time with her. During the day you can spend time with Yaya-chan and I." On receiving an incredulous glare from her best friend she quickly amended her suggestion. "And then there's Chiyo-chan, Kizuna-chan, Remon-chan and Kagome-chan…"

Yaya snickered, leaning forward to peer inquisitively at the pink-haired girl. "Come to think of it, you're always hanging around us during lunch at school. Don't you have any friends your age?"

Tsubomi turned to face Yaya, walking along sideways to maintain her glare. "I have _plenty_ of friends in my class." Her glare disappeared, and a devious glint appeared in her eyes. "Unlike some," she finished pointedly.

Yaya flinched, and Tsubomi's expression morphed into one of victory. She didn't really have a comeback to that. What the younger girl had said was true, she wasn't the best of friends with some of her classmates. It wasn't that she was actively disliked; she had just never had the desire to strengthen her ties with those girls. Most of them were just stuck-up, giggly, rich brats whose conversations were filled with the most inane drivel she had ever heard. Gossipmongers, the lot of them. Who'd want to be friends with that?

Hikari was smiling somewhat uncomfortably again.

"Really, you two…" she said in exasperation, and then paused in her tracks when they drew level with the stairs.

"Hika—" Yaya glanced over her shoulder when she realised her roommate wasn't following, and then quickly wished she hadn't. Hikari was staring down the stairs as Ootori Amane climbed them, the tall girl breaking into a sickening grin when she spied Hikari. Turning away, Yaya grabbed Tsubomi roughly by the arm and started to tug the younger girl away.

"See you later, Hikari. We're heading back," she said, shooting her best friend an encouraging smile. "Good luck, eh?"

"No, Yaya-chan you don't have to…"

But Yaya had already started to walk away, dragging a confused and slightly miffed Tsubomi with her. When they finally moved out of hearing range, Yaya loosened her grip on the younger girl's arm, and continued on in moody silence.

Tsubomi glanced at her incredulously. "Why did you—?"

"Hikari likes Amane-san." She paused. "So we need to give them space."

Tsubomi shook her head. "I know that! But it's not what I meant," she said in frustration. "Don't you _like_ Hikari-senpai?"

Yaya shot her an irritated glare. "You're one to talk," she murmured, watching as a flush spread across the younger girl's cheeks.

"I told you, it's not like that!" she protested, clenching her fists by her side. "I just admire her."

Her gaze slid to the floor, and Yaya scoffed. "Mmm, I _just_ admire her too." Tsubomi glared at her, but she quickly brushed it off. "Why are you so interested, anyway? I thought you'd be thankful that I'm stepping aside. That way you can keep your precious 'Hikari-senpai' all to yourself."

Tsubomi's flush deepened. "Like I said—"

"Yeah, yeah, you only 'admire' her," Yaya drawled, waving a hand dismissively and cutting Tsubomi off mid-sentence. "I heard you, but then if you're not interested in Hikari like that, why are you so interested in what I do with her?"

"I'm not!" Tsubomi protested, glaring up at Yaya. After a few tense seconds, she dropped her eyes from Yaya's face. "I just don't understand why you're giving up," she mumbled morosely.

"Hmm?" Yaya studied Tsubomi for a few seconds before a grin cracked her features. "You weren't worried about me, were you?" she asked playfully, watching in vague amusement as Tsubomi's head whipped up.

"Wha—No! Who would be?"

Yaya just smirked at the younger girl, taking delight in the uncomfortable flush that had begun at her cheeks and had slowly started its journey down her neck. Making Tsubomi flustered was quickly becoming her favourite game… not a particularly difficult game, but amusing nonetheless. They drew level with her door, and she fished her key out of her pocket.

"Well, as much as I know it pains you to leave my side…" she started, earning another heated glare and growl from her companion. "I've got some… stuff to do."

"Like sulk in your room?"

Yaya shot her an irritated glare and then sighed.

"Like sulk in my room," she finally conceded, unlocking her door and returning the key to her pocket. "So go get lost." When Tsubomi failed to move after a few seconds, Yaya turned back to her with a grin. "Are you waiting for an invitation to come in? I didn't know you liked me that much. Well, by all means—"

"No! That's fine," Tsubomi said quickly, flushing at the innuendo and stalking down the hall. "Don't be late for dinner," she called as she scurried towards her own room.

Yaya shook her head and opened her room, quickly flopping onto her bed. An image of Hikari staring love-struck at that tomboyish lump Amane found its way back into her head, and she buried her head in her pillow, trying to will the images away. If there was an affliction more painful than unrequited love, she had yet to find it. After a few fruitless seconds of trying to banish her melancholy-inducing thoughts, she swung her legs over the edge of her bed and reached for her MP3 player, sitting on top of a messy stack of CDs. At least music would distract her.

As she settled back down on her bed, she wondered if their unofficial roomtemp was dealing with this as badly. From what she could see, the girl had a serious case of hero-worship for Hikari. And even though she swore black-and-blue that she wasn't interested in the girl romantically, the opinionated first-year was hardly upfront about her emotions. She smiled. She should probably be thankful for the other girl's presence, even if she hadn't meant it, their little verbal spar had dragged her from her funk a little.

She shut her eyes and rested her head on folded arms. Couldn't tell the little punk that, though. She'd never live it down.

------------------------------

Nagisa idly played with the small sachet of tea in her hands as she rested against the railings of the rotunda.

She had been in the same spot for more than half an hour, but was still no closer to figuring out the tangle that were her thoughts. She had kissed Shizuma-sama. Or was it the other way around? She had started it, but hadn't Shizuma been the one to pull her forward? Without that action on the Etoile's part would she have stopped herself before their lips met? Or was she just trying to run away from reality again?

She sighed and let her head drop forwards, stilling the motion of her hands as they slowly rotated the pack of tea. In the mortifying confusion that was her exit from Shizuma's room, she had completely forgotten about the item gripped firmly in her hand. She would have to return it at some stage, but… not just now. All she really wanted to do now was forget it ever happened, maybe hit some mystical 'reset' button that sent her back to the start of the year where her only real worries were whether she'd fit in. Then she wouldn't have to deal with the prospect of questioning her sexuality…

The sound of sand being crushed underfoot broke her from her reflections, and she slowly raised her head to locate the source.

Walking along the path leading back towards the dorms were four familiar figures, all decked out in the familiar uniform of St Lulim Girl's School. The smallest of the group was a young blonde-haired girl with startling blue eyes and a small stuffed bear clutched to her chest. She walked along slowly, silently – quite in contrast to her compatriots. The title of 'most lively' would probably fall to the next shortest of the group, an energetic redhead who was currently trying to demonstrate what looked like the proper technique for a golf swing – or maybe a baseball swing – to her companions. The girl on the receiving end of the redhead's perplexing demonstration was a taller girl with glasses, who looked surprisingly indifferent to her friend's strange bodily movements. The final member of the group trailed behind the other three by a few metres, and seemed almost as lost in thought as Nagisa herself had been moments ago. Her long black hair, flowing ribbons and slightly baggy school cardigan gave her a somewhat bohemian air.

"Nagisa-san!"

The younger redhead had spied her and, waving madly, began to drag the girl with glasses towards the small rotunda. The others followed, though a bit more sedately, and Nagisa quickly hid the pack of tea in her dress pocket.

"Kizuna-chan, Remon-chan. What are you guys doing out here at this time of the afternoon?"

She greeted the others by name as they approached the small wooden structure.

"We just got back from a club meeting. Somehow we got a little sidetracked and forgot the time, and here we are," Kizuna replied happily, still attached to Remon's arm.

"For the Transformation club?" Nagisa queried. "Or has Chikaru-san started a new one?"

Kizuna grinned. "It's a new one, but it's top secret, so if we told you we'd have to kill you, right Kagome-chan?" The timid blonde-haired girl nodded and hugged her teddy a little tighter. "See, even Kagome-chan agrees. So it's safer not to ask, Nagisa-san."

Nagisa smiled indulgently and held back the chuckle that was bubbling in the back of her throat. "In that case, forget I asked."

Remon pushed her glasses back up her nose as she studied Nagisa. "What are you doing out here all by yourself, Nagisa-san?"

She fought off the urge to flinch, and could feel the smile trying to work its way off her face.

"Nothing much, just taking in the scenery," she commented, forcing levity into her voice. Chikaru gave her a searching look, and she returned it with a small smile.

"Why don't you join us, Nagisa-san? We were just heading to the dining hall. Dinner can't be too far away," Kizuna said, her face lighting up. Remon nodded in agreement, and a smile found its way to Kagome's face.

"Thanks guys, but I might stay out here a little longer. I want to wait for the sunset. Seems a shame to miss it after standing out here for so long," she said, the lie leaving a slightly bitter taste in her mouth.

"Oh, that sounds nice!" Kizuna exclaimed. "Would you mind if we joined you?"

Nagisa gave her a weak smile. Obviously the energetic young girl hadn't quite picked up on the subtle request for privacy. She quickly scoured her mind, trying to figure out another way to hint at her desire to be alone, but was beaten to the punch by Chikaru.

"We can't do that, Kizuna-chan, we still have to review the contents of today's meeting," she said, sounding scandalised. "Don't tell me you forgot!"

Kizuna's smile dropped. "That's right! Well we'd better get going then. C'mon, Remon-chan, Kagome-chan." She hooked her arms through both girls' arms and pulled them away with purpose, ignoring Remon's protests.

"See you at dinner, Nagisa-san!" the redhead yelled, as she dragged her captives back towards the triangular building. Remon threw up her free hand, a '_Sorry, Nagisa-san' _echoing from the bespectacled girl, and a silent wave issuing from the short blonde.

"Thank you, Chikaru-san," Nagisa said, when the girls had walked out of earshot.

The older girl smiled as she turned to walk away.

"Not a problem, Nagisa-chan. But you know, if you need to talk…"

Nagisa shook her head. "Thanks, but I'm fine at the moment. I just need to sort through some things on my own."

"Alright. Just don't stay out for too long, or you'll miss dinner," Chikaru finished, slowly heading in the direction of her underclassmen.

Nagisa nodded and fixed her gaze on the older girl's retreating form, her hand involuntarily diving into her pocket to play with the sachet.

_Dinner, huh?_

Maybe she'd just miss it; Shizuma-sama would be there, after all. Her gaze flicked to the horizon and she made good on her lie, watching as the golden orb slipped beyond the horizon.

------------------------------

Only much later did Nagisa return to her dormroom, deciding to forgo dinner in the hall for a contemplative stroll around the dorms themselves. On opening the door, she was treated to something akin to a full-body slam from her overeager roommate.

"Nagisa-chan! Thank goodness you're okay," Tamao cried, squeezing Nagisa's shoulders almost painfully. She pulled back and looked Nagisa in the eyes. "When you didn't come to dinner I knew something was wrong. Where have you been?"

Nagisa blinked in surprise. "I was just walking around out on dorm grounds, and I guess I just lost track of time. Sorry, Tamao-chan. I didn't mean to make you worry."

Tamao shook her head. "I'm just glad you're okay," she said. "When Rokujou-sama came up to me at dinner I thought—"

"Rokujou-san approached you?" Nagisa exclaimed, all too aware of the slightly hysterical tone in her voice. She stifled the panic and tried again. "What for?"

Tamao glanced at her in concern, leading them both down to sit on Nagisa's bed.

"She wanted to know whether I'd seen or spoken with you this afternoon. She seemed worried about you." She paused and Nagisa prayed that she wouldn't ask the next question. Apparently someone up there didn't like her all that much. "What did she mean by that?" she asked a little hesitantly.

Nagisa sighed and bent down to start going through the process of removing her boots.

"Was Shizuma-sama there?" she asked apprehensively, watching Tamao's face cloud over in confusion.

"No, she wasn't." A slight pause, "Why?"

"I, uh, went to visit her today… Things didn't go too well."

Tamao obviously read something into that, as she let out a surprised gasp. "No. She didn't!"

Nagisa's head whipped up. "Sorry?"

Tamao spun around to face her, hands planted on the bed, and blood rapidly draining from her face.

"Shizuma-sama didn't try to take advantage of you, did she? She didn't force herself on you?"

Nagisa's eyes widened and she blushed hotly.

"What? No! No, that's not it at all!" She kicked off her boots and reached for something under her bed. After nearly losing her balance a few times, her hand finally closed around the object she wanted, and she dragged it out. In her hands was a small wrapped package, but instead of giving it to Tamao, she set it on her lap.

"When I left earlier today, I actually went to deliver a present to Shi— Etoile-sama. To thank her for her help with the exam." She fixed her gaze on the present as she struggled to find a way to word the next part. "We started talking and… well, I did something stupid and ran off." She fought down the blush that wanted to spill onto her cheeks, as she met her roommate's gaze. "Rokujou-san was there when I ran out, so I guess she was just checking up on me. I walked around for a while after that."

Tamao studied her with a dubious expression, and Nagisa could see her itching to ask more about her 'stupid' behaviour. She wasn't really sure why, but it just didn't seem right telling Tamao-chan about what had happened in that room. Maybe because she herself wasn't quite sure what it meant, so explaining it to an uninvolved third party seemed somewhat… irresponsible. Maybe she was scared about Tamao-chan's reaction. They had never really discussed personal beliefs on same-sex relationships, though given her roommate's support of Hikari-chan and Amane-san she doubted it would really be an issue. Maybe all it really boiled down to was: she was just scared.

Regardless of the reason, telling Tamao-chan about it now wouldn't really help her out, and it would just make her roommate worry more.

"I've been waiting to give this to you all day," she said, purposefully changing the subject. While it wasn't the smoothest of transitions, it served its purpose quite nicely. "Thank you, Tamao-chan. I couldn't have done any of this without you." She thrust the present at Tamao.

"Nagisa-chan…" Tamao glanced at Nagisa, looking indescribably touched as she took the present and began to unwrap it.

Nagisa studied her friend as she took meticulous care in ensuring that the paper didn't rip. She sighed.

_That's two people in one day… Am I the only one who still likes ripping into wrapping paper?_

"Hey, Tamao-chan, why don't you just rip it open?" she prompted, almost impatient at how long it was taking the other girl.

Tamao gave her a small smile and shook her head. "Because this is paper that Nagisa-chan took the time to wrap this present in, I'll treasure it as much as the present itself," she said earnestly, and Nagisa smiled in embarrassment.

When Tamao had finally deemed her present to be adequately cleared of sticky-tape, she carefully unfolded the edges of the paper to reveal two items, her eyes widening as she took them in. Nagisa couldn't help the grin that cracked her features as she took in her friend's stunned expression.

Tamao tentatively reached out and picked up the first item, a small bound hardback with a woven cover. "This is…" she said, turning it in her hands.

"A 1942 edition of 'The Rubaiyatt of Omar Khayyam'. I saw you obsessing over it when we last went into town. I hope that's the right one." Tamao nodded, and a relieved smile crossed Nagisa's face. "Thank goodness!"

Tamao took her time running her fingers over the spine, and thumbing through some of the aged pages, before turning her attention to the other part of the present. "And what's this?" she asked, picking up the small paperback.

"I know how you like to treasure your books, so I got you a cheap copy that you can thumb through without worrying about damaging the pages too much." She paused as Tamao halted her motions and raised shining eyes.

"I-It's perfect, but you shouldn't have." She laid both books carefully down on the comforter. "I helped you because I wanted to. Because I didn't want you to have to miss out on Summer School."

Nagisa smiled bashfully and crawled over the bed to wrap Tamao in a gentle hug.

"I know," she said into her friend's neck. "Which is why I had to."

Tamao momentarily stiffened before wrapping her arms around Nagisa's upper back, returning the gesture with a little more force. After an indeterminable amount of time, Nagisa pulled back, keeping her hands resting gently against Tamao's shoulders.

"Tamao-chan? Would you read me some of the poem? I've been dying to hear the whole thing since you quoted me that passage."

"Hmm, okay." She picked up the paperback after running a hand teasingly over the cover of the hardback. "You might want to get yourself comfortable," she warned, watching as Nagisa positioned herself with the wall against her back, and a pillow cuddled to her chest.

"Okay. Whenever you're ready," Nagisa said, stretching her legs out in front of her, and crossing them over at the ankles. Her bottom leg would probably end up numb, but that was of little consequence. She shifted her gaze to her friend, whose eyes darted away from her direction back to the book in her hand.

"All right then…"

She settled herself back on her knees and flicked to the first page.

"_Wake! For the Sun, who scatter'd into flight…"_


End file.
